It used to be UIdaho Memes for Spuddy Teens, now it’s UIdaho Memes for Scott’s Tots.  

The recent name change came with the announcement of President C. Scott Green, University of Idaho’s newest president. Even though the name has changed, the purpose for this page has remained the same.  

According to the meme Wikipedia page, a meme is “an idea behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture, often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme or meaning represented by the meme.” 

Current admin and fourth-year student, Ethan Dale, designed the new banner students recognize as soon as they see it. The banner previously depicted former UI President Chuck Staben, but once Green was announced as president, they needed a new banner and a new name.  

The name of the page ends in the phrase “Scott’s Tots” and because of this, Dale said he decided to incorporate a tater tot in the banner. With this in mind, Dale said he used his creative liberty to make the new banner.  

The Facebook meme page, which is not officially associated with the university, started in 2017 and currently has almost 4,000 members, the majority of which are students or alumni from UI. These members can post memes and share them with other students, but all posts must be approved by admins.

A collection of memes from the page, with courtesy from their creators

One of the current admins, Dawson Hill, third-year student at UI, knew the students who originally started the page and has been an admin since the end of his first year. 

Along with approving the posts submitted by students, admins monitor those who want to join the group. This makes sure all members in the group are students or are affiliated with UI in some way.   

While the current admins have a group chat where they vote on questionable posts submitted to the page, not all of the admins have met each other because each of the current admins were added by a graduating admin, Hill said. 

Hill said he believes the page gives students a platform to discuss what’s currently going on at the university.

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“I think it gives students an opportunity to have a way to openly express themselves,” Hill said. “Not necessarily criticize, but poke fun at some of the things the university chooses to do and it’s not all about that.”   

Some of those other posts include topics such as the gnats that flooded campus last week, which made student’s trips to class more difficult than it usually is, at least according to the memes posted on that day.   

Dale said he enjoys being an admin because it allows him to see all the different memes students create in response to things going on at the university, allowing the page to be a unique outlet for students.

“It’s kind of a unique situation, memes started out as jokes and now they’re almost like a form of communication now,” Dale said.

Dale said every meme has brought a “chaotic” response in the comments, saying there’s “at least one interesting discussion raised by each meme.” 

Alicia Treichel, a third-year student at UI, has been a member of the page since her first year on campus. She started liking pages related to the university and Facebook eventually sent her another meme page called University of Idaho Memes. After she liked that page, she was suggested the UIdaho Memes for Scott’s Tots page.  

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The University of Idaho Memes page has over 12,500 people who like and follow it, however it is significantly less active than UIdaho Memes for Scott’s Tots.  

Treichel posts very frequently with only one of her memes being denied by the admins to be posted in the page. During the flood in Moscow last April, Treichel decided to make a meme about it. She laid down in a puddle and captioned it “When ya roommate takes too long in the shower but the weather’s got your back.” 

She said she was never told the reason why the post got denied. But that has not stopped her from continuing to post frequently.  

“Right now, I use (the page) to kind of give my take on what’s going on around campus,” Treichel said. “I’m definitely a comedian by nature. So, making jokes about everything that happens on this campus really came naturally to me.”  

The meme page has grown because people like making memes in order to make light of various issues happening on campus and in the community, Treichel said.      

At the beginning of the semester, Treichel decided to make an event to get students together after seeing a meme about a college in Sweden. The meme outlined an activity a Swedish college did, which was screaming in unison to relieve stress.  

Even though only around 30 students showed up to the event, students enjoyed the experience. Because of this success, Treichel is planning another screaming in unison-type event closer to finals week to relieve the inevitable stress of finals.  

Treichel said members of the group can find information on the page about the next screaming event in the near future. She is currently planning on how to raise awareness for this event in hopes that more students will show up than last time.  

Treichel said the page allows members to meet like-minded people in a way they might have not before. Treichel said she has met a few people in the past year because of the page.  

The page continues to grow, and many posts are added each day.  

“I think a lot of people like making memes,” Treichel said. “I love them making them too and to get that (creative) energy out.”  

Nicole Hindberg can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @HindbergNicole