By: Matt Wegh, Managing Editor
Everybody poops.
Using the bathroom on campus is not always the most pleasant experience for a variety of reasons, but senior Steph Rudi is working to make it as positive as possible for Illinois Wesleyan students with her Instagram account, iwupoops. The account, which has been running since early November of 2017, offers students a chance to review bathrooms on campus.
IWU students can submit their reviews to the account, which Rudi then posts, including a photo from the bathroom and a rating on a scale of one to five, five being the best. Apart from giving students information about the facilities on campus, the account is also a way for students to bond over something we all do but don’t always talk about. “I would say iwupoops is a place for students to come together over shared experiences and learn more about our awesome campus,” Rudi said.
The idea is catching on too, as the account has racked up 123 followers in the few short months it has been around.
Knowing the ins and outs of IWU bathrooms has shown to be useful to these followers, too. “My defecating experience on Illinois Wesleyan’s campus has been radically improved thanks to these brave students,” sophomore Johnny Barrett, a follower of the account, said. “Things like quality of hand dryers, stalls and other bathroom accessories are not trivial and deserve attention.”
The discrete nature of the bathroom and the public nature of Instagram make this account an unconventional concept, to say the least, which begs the question: how in the world did Rudi come up with this idea? “I would find myself always using the same restrooms in the same buildings. I decided I wanted to explore our campus more and find the best restrooms and share them with the IWU community,” Rudi said. “What better way to do it than with Instagram!”
Instagram, one of the most popular social media platforms among college students, is a natural medium to use in order to reach the largest audience possible. Because the account uses submissions from its followers, this wide audience can lead to some pretty weird reviews. “One time someone asked me to review the bathtub on the second floor of Gulick, which was interesting,” Rudi said, “also, we got a review of the Aspiration Fountain in the Eckly Quad.”
Although neither of these are technically bathrooms, both of these reviews can be seen on the iwupoops page.
The fountain was given a 4.8 as a great spot to take some “aspirational” BMs, and the bathtub finished with a four out of five, with privacy cited as its best aspect. Rudi added that some reviews, like these two, are strictly comical and her page, nor The Argus, condones vandalism.
Strange as they may seem, satirical reviews like these are just part of what keeps the account moving.
“I’m always looking for weird recommendations because it keeps things interesting, for sure,” Whether bizarre, gross or informative, reviews on iwupoops are sure to give a fresh perspective to the mundane on IWU’s campus.