Y U(WO) no know memes?

More than 2,000 people poke fun at daily life at UW Oshkosh on the "UW-Oshkosh Memes" Facebook page, which was created on Feb. 6.

The page allows students to post memes relating specifically to campus. According to knowyourmeme.com, a meme is "a piece of content or an idea that's passed from person to person, changing and evolving along the way." This content is generally spread through text and images.

Many of these memes are about the food, buildings, people and events on campus. Some of them make jokes about things such as taking a girl out to dinner, saying "I'll take you out … with one of my flex meals."

"I absolutely love the Oshkosh memes," Lydia Caldwell, a student at Oshkosh, said. "I can relate to almost every single one of them. I sit here for hours just laughing."

 Students may seem to be enjoying the humor on the Facebook page, but administrators are not quite on board. According to Jamie Ceman, the multichannel marketing and web director for Integrated Marketing and Communications, the University contacted Facebook and requested they remove the word "official" from the information section of the meme's page since the University did not create it.

"There's nothing else we can really do except hope that it doesn't affect students' jobs in the future," Ceman said.

Susan Rensing, an assistant professor of women's studies and history, discovered the Oshkosh Memes page two days ago. She said the Facebook page was clever and fun-spirited until she scrolled further down the page and noticed memes that she deemed inappropriate.

"I saw several memes that were blatantly racist, misogynist, xenophobic and close-minded."

Rensing was horrified to find students posting inappropriate memes.

"These upset me greatly because they tear at the very social fabric of our campus community," Rensing said. "We strive to make UWO an inclusive community that is open to all students to learn and to grow.  I can only imagine how stigmatized and excluded a Hmong student or an African-American student would feel when seeing those offensive memes."

Like Ceman, Rensing said students are potentially putting their current and future employment opportunities at risk by posting these inappropriate memes.

"No business wants to hire someone who says culturally insensitive and inflammatory things, even if it's only on Facebook," Rensing said.

The connection with the University also concerned Rensing since the page uses the school's name.

"I would also hope that the chancellor would want to make very clear that these memes have absolutely no connection to UW Oshkosh, because they are potentially very damaging to our reputation in the UW System as a leader in inclusive excellence," Rensing said.

Despite possible future negative implications, students continue to embrace the site. Multiple new memes have been posted daily since the site's creation and each post gets likes, comments and shares.

"My favorite one is ‘Goes to Wellness Center, wears makeup,'" Taylor Bednarek, a sophomore at Oshkosh said.

Oshkosh student Ben Perreault said since all the posts relate to campus, it helps unite the students and campus community.

"I feel like everyone who goes here can relate to more than one," Perreault said. "It brings the campus together so we can all have a good laugh."

Oshkosh is not the only campus to have a memes page. UW Madison, UW-Eau Claire and the University of Minnesota have their own meme pages, which were also created in the beginning of February.

"I don't think enough students know about this," Aly Dutkiewicz, an Oshkosh student said. "I think everyone on campus can relate to something that has happened to them."