By Claire DeRoin–There’s a new group on Facebook that is sweeping campus by storm – gaining more than 270 likes in a mere day’s time. The page “Confessions of a Morningside Student” was founded on February 20.
“Private message us your most disgusting, hilarious, embarrassing confessions that happened at Morningside,” the page’s About section touts. “It will be posted ANONYMOUSLY on our page. So don’t be shy, lets [sic] just have a laugh!”
And students are doing just that. Posts on the page include stories about awkward hook-ups, raunchy sex, and drunken escapades. There are a few family-friendly confessions, such as a hamster race as a hall function and a student that slipped secret admirer notes under random doors.
Senior Michelle Kuester is disgusted by the page. “If someone came up to you and asked for your raunchiest sex story or embarrassing drunk story, wouldn’t you want to slap them? This is no different.”
One of Kuester’s concerns is the potential for the page founder to blackmail confession submitters. “There is a person running this who knows exactly who says what. And their moral values are obviously questionable if they start a page like this. Why would you put blind faith in them to keep your secret?”
Scott Kruse, a computer science major, doesn’t buy the “anonymity” either. “All they’re having people do right now is send a private message to the page and then they post it. Someone has to be seeing all of the names.”
Student Body President Kelci Teut finds the confessions on the Facebook page worrisome and frustrating.
“I’ve spent the past year working to improve the Morningside experience by having meetings with the administration, even giving up days of class to attend the Board of Directors meetings and retreat. But it seems like students are more moved by releasing their inhibitions,” Teut said. “Students will freely admit their drunkenness and lewdness, gladly proclaim it, but yet, we struggle to get students involved in shaping their own education and experience. It took us two days to get just under 325 students to vote on the Student Government Referendum, which will have a direct financial impact on all those enrolling in classes again in the fall, but almost 300 students liked this [page] within a day.”
All RA’s and Residence Life staff contacted for interviews replied that they could not comment on the situation.
“It reflects badly on the school and shows just how childish the students are here,” Kuester says. Alluding to a post on the page, she continues, “Morningside College: Discover yourself, define your world, and go to the bathroom in a hallway.”
Honestly, the page does no harm. The stories are funny, and the people admitting to the person running the page obviously knows that the person on the other end will know their name. People who are saying those who drink will have a “bad life” and “won’t be successful” really need to quit judging. I am not a drinker, but I know older people who are very successful who partied in their prime. The page is harmless and used for a good laugh. Oh, and about it making Morningside “look bad”, find one college who does not have people getting drunk every weekend.
This webpage is telling another side of the Morningside story. I have always said that the school is a visibly dry but in reality a drowning campus. Do you really think everyone with water bottles and backpacks on Fridays and Saturdays are going to study?
As to Morningside’s “reputation” this webpage is harmless because when high school seniors come for the COE weekends and senior visit days, they are often introduced to the college party atmosphere. I hosted recruits several times and I had to be the one to say I did not drink and wouldn’t take them to parties.
The major problem with this site is the anonymity factor. There is someone recieving all of the messages and posting them. I would think that the people who send the posts know this, recognize it, and accept it that risk.
Amen to the voice of reason reply
What you said isn’t reasonable at all. You do not know what these people do with all their free time. You know of one silly thing that they did. That doesn’t mean that that’s what they’re doing all of the time. I myself posted a story on the page, and I can honestly say that I rarely even drink. And in fact I just got accepted into the UNMC College of Pharmacy. So I would say that my life is headed in the right direction. But every now and again we, as the 18-22 year olds we are, enjoy getting a little out of control. And if you don’t find it funny, then you can take pride in the fact that you’ve apparently never done anything stupid.
Important to note: this page is not about a drink every now and then. It’s about those who spend their time at college (most likely paid for by parents who would be horrified to read these stories) getting wasted and being destructive. It’s not funny. It’s not cool. Life will turn out badly for them; it’ll all work out.
Funny reply buddy. I’m actually going to grad school. So yes, I’m an idiot. Thanks for the compliment on how terrible of a person I am because I like to drink every now and then. If you’d like me to promote student government, then have a talk with the members who have personally told me that “they don’t get much done” other than allocating some money. I neither insulted Michelle nor anyone else, so by calling me an idiot, you’re escalating this farther than it needs to be. I simply voiced my opinion on the matter and you called me names. Grow up.
Just because someone goes out on the weekends and gets drunk and has fun and has some stories to tell does not make them a bad student or a bad person or a drunk or goes to the hospital every other weekends or someone who has been pregnant or has every STD in the book.
I know plenty of Mside students who go out Friday and Saturday nights and have their fun but then during the week their attention is solely on school. And they get really good grades. And if they want to share their stories, I see no problem with that. If you dont like the stories, dont like the page and dont read the posts. Simple as that.
All this controversy is just drawing more attention to it. All the name calling on both sides is not going to make it go away. It makes everyone look bad. Rude comments on the posts is only going to fuel the fire. If you disagree with what the student did, that’s fine. But they still did it and you calling them an idiot won’t change that. If you want this thing to go away, then ignore it. Don’t start a Facebook fight. Because this page might make Morningside look “trashy” but leaving nasty comments makes individuals look childish. Just let it be.
I’m not the student that goes out and gets wasted and parties all the time, but I find it amusing reading the tales of those that post their stories. It’s there choice to what they want to share, and it’s not like we are the only school that does this. Many schools do it.
Go to any other college and you’d find the same thing. People are making a much bigger deal out of this than it needs to be. Don’t like it? Ignore it. Chances are it will fizzle out eventually anyway. Just because someone left a post about one crazy ridiculous thing they did doesn’t mean their whole life revolves around doing that type of thing. It just means that in that one moment they were enjoying themselves and will have a pretty good story to tell someday. For those of you who don’t seem to understand that, deal with it. We all have different interests and make different choices. It’s what makes the world we live in so interesting and colorful.
They think the stories on the Morningside Confessions are bad? Those stories look like church stories compared to the UNI Confessions page. ha!
Yes, college is education and learning and all that but it’s also about making stories to tell, having fun and making friends. I agree with Interested User, any parent who went to college probably has some stories of their own.
Anyone who submits a story probably thinks their story is funny and wants to share it. If they were that embarrassed of what happened, I highly doubt theyd submit it. Some people just need to lighten up.
Sure, it’s all fun and games. We think it’s funny to laugh at people’s stories. But yes, it does give us a trashy image. I know that no one is forcing anyone to like this page. Do we really need to have Morningside’s name associated with our drunken, gross, lewd stories? I don’t think so, and I’m sure the higher-up people wouldn’t appreciate that image on us, either.
I am glad I am not the only one who is concerned about this page. I will be the first to admit that I have read the stories and laughed about other peoples embarrassing moments but at the same time the concerns about the anonymity are well founded. I personally have not liked the page because while it may be fun to tell others these moments it could quickly escalate into stories being told about others and regardless of no names bing used sometimes you don’t need them. At the same time I am worried as to how that would look professionally when I go looking for a job in my career field.
On the topic of Morningside’s reputation it puts a bad taste in my mouth. I am proud to go to this school and brag about it back home. For the most part Morningside does have a good name and is constantly trying to better it’s self and the education it offers. This page is crass and does not put ourselves as students or as the future of America in a good light.
Yes we have the right to expression and the freedom of speech but is this really using this correctly and in the best way possible? Once this is out on the internet it is out there forever, no take backs. I do not believe there is enough warnings or information associated with the page to make it a “safe” decision to either share or like.
1) When I first saw the page, I did not know what I was going to be looking at. Don’t call Michelle out just because she gave her opinion for a college newspaper article. She was probably just helping a friend out and that happens to be her opinion.
2)Some stupid people might not think about the person running all of this. And they might just post anyway. So this article reminds students what they are risking when they post.
3)I don’t remember Student Government calling itself a failure. And the only reason you think it doesn’t do much is because you probably don’t bother to get involved at all.
4) Sure, some of out parents may have stories like these. But some of them don’t. Heck, I have one or two that would be posting material. But I choose not to post it on a public forum that friends, relatives, and potential students and their parents can see. There is a time and a place for having a little bit of uninhibited fun, but I really don’t want my college looking this bad.
Finally, “Have a fun boring life?” Seriously?! Have fun getting caught drinking, killing brain cells, failing classes, getting STIs, getting pregnant, getting drugged or raped, throwing up after being extremely intoxicated, getting taken to the hospital, or geez… even dying. Just because all this stuff is part of college culture doesn’t mean we should glamorize it, pretend it’s not dangerous, or, least of all, call someone out for being a little less risky on their weekends.
This page reflects poorly on Morningside, no questions asked. Not all students are complete idiots, like people like “Interested User.” If you don’t think Student Government does anything, you obviously are too busy getting wasted and pissing away your future to notice all of the the things they do. Finally, I hope whoever is in charge of this page reveals the identities of people who submitted stories. If you’ll trust your secrets to a stranger, I hope they throw that back in all of your alcohol and puke covered faces.
Although no one makes you like the page or give your story, it’s horrible PR on M’side. The stories on there make all of Morningside look trashy. Not all of us go out to get smashed and make a fool out of ourselves every day. Some of us do realize there is more to life than drinking and having sex. Yes, we all have stories from college, but do they need to be broadcasted with the college’s name stamped on them? Probably not.
1) Nobody makes you look at the page or tells you to give your story. Completely done by choice there Michelle.
2) There may be that question of trust, but again, you don’t have to do it and odds are good that if you’re putting the story on Facebook that you don’t care if a lot of people know.
3) Student government doesn’t really get much done, as stated by many student government members, so why should we really care about voting for something that is a self-proclaimed failure?
4) Ask your parents if they have some stories from college. They probably do unless they were sheltered. Lets get real, you’re talking about 18-22 year old people who want to have fun. If you think it’s childish, I hope I don’t see you out on the weekends because you should be prepared to get called out on it. Have fun living a boring life.