Romance is in the air on Samford’s campus–at least, that’s what the newly popular and strictly anonymous Samford Lovers Instagram account would like us to believe. Founded on Jan. 20 and highly active ever since, Samford Lovers has dedicated itself to “exposing” current and potential romantic relationships between students on campus, taking in submissions of paparazzi-style pictures of boys and girls interacting with one another in their daily lives.
As the account has grown, more and more submissions have been contributed, with several different locations on campus becoming prime hotspots for anonymous photography. Several students have been targeted around Ben Brown Plaza, the University Commons and the cafeteria. During Step Sing season there was an influx of photos submitted in the Wright Center during rehearsal and performance days, featuring students in full costume.
Since Valentine’s Day, Samford Lovers has gained a larger following and is causing a stir in Samford’s community; people are beginning to talk about it.
Student Hannah Grace Nash and her friend were photographed with someone who had previously appeared multiple times on the Samford Lovers page. As they talked, they suspected there was a chance that they could end up on the page after this one interaction. Little did they know, someone had snapped and submitted a photo of the three of them as they spoke.
“My little sent it to me and I woke up to it,” Nash said. “That guy is on Samford Lovers all the time, and as we were having that conversation, Lauren and I were saying ‘oh my gosh I bet we are going to end up on Samford Lovers…’ and there we are. Isn’t that hilarious?”
There have been many “repeat offenders” on the Samford Lovers page, mostly male students who have buddies watching and waiting for them to interact with someone new.
“I think it’s his friends sending them in, that has to be what it is,” Nash said.
Student Richard Zimmerman was also eating in the cafeteria when one of his friends dropped by his table to say hello. Little did he know that there was someone else in the room, waiting for that moment to snap a photo.
“It was a short conversation, so I really didn’t think anyone would take a picture and send it,” he said. “I felt pretty surprised that someone has enough free time to run around and take pictures of people talking. I think it contributes to the toxic ‘ring by spring’ and ‘guys and girls can’t hang out as friends’ culture at Samford.”
While there are many mixed feelings about this Instagram account, one of the nameless creators was willing to step forward and answer a couple questions about how it was formed.
“Me and my super cool roommate were sitting in our dorm one night talking about all the funny Instagram accounts people made in our high schools,” the anonymous writer said. “The brilliant idea came to us that we should make our own account for Samford. So that night we created Samford Lovers–not really expecting much–but soon enough we started to gain a following and here we are!”
The writer acknowledged some of the controversies surrounding the nature of this profile, but insisted that their intentions were never to create tension in social groups.
“Samford Lovers was created to highlight potential lovers,” they said, “really we just thought it would be funny for the campus to band together to “expose” couples that aren’t even couples. This account was created for everyone to have fun, no drama is needed.”
Staff Writer
