As residents of Jewett hall learn of its repurposing as conference housing, one student has started to protest under the guise of the instagram account @save_jewett, where they use memes to leverage campus culture anonymously.
When asked what made them want to fight for Jewett, the anonymous student said via Instagram, “Jewett is the spirit of Drake. What do you think of whenever you think of Drake University? Jewett, of course. It is literally the heart of campus. It is the backdrop of our famous Painted Street. Students must be able to bask in its full glory. To have it be mere conference housing is to defile the heart of Drake University.”
Students asked about the Instagram account said they didn’t believe there was any serious meaning behind the posts.
“If they were taking it seriously, they would have actual grassroots movements,” Eirik Waernes, a sophomore living in Jewett said. “They would not approach it as they are because looking at this, it’s clearly all just a joke. Jewett is not the heart of campus. It’s not a good dorm building. It’s an old building that’s a last resort for sophomores. I don’t know anyone who wants to live here.”
With Jewett being one of the oldest dorms on campus at over 80 years old, some students are also struggling to justify Drake putting money towards a renovation to keep it as a residence hall.
“It’s too far gone,” Waernes said. “It’s far too old, and all the facilities are way too old. The building itself is too old for it to be used as an actual place of residency. I think a whole lot of changes have to be made. It’s not a very nice place to live at all.”
Students have stated the tactics @save_jewett are using are not useful, and are just another Drake meme account for the books.
“It depends on what exactly they’re reaching for,” Taylor Fruehling, a sophomore living in Jewett said. “If they’re reaching for attention, I think it can be successful because it’s funny. If they want to bring awareness, I feel memes aren’t the best way to go about it because we just look at it as a joke.”
It seems that even the residents of Jewett can’t seem to take the cause seriously, with them all seeming to have a minor resentment for the state of the building.
“If it was up to me, I would let them tear down the whole building because it doesn’t align with the campus and general campus statements for good student residency,” Waernes said.
