AUCians spellbound by new AUC Crushes Facebook page

It would be considered unusual if you hadn’t already heard of AUC Crushes, the latest Facebook trend that has taken­Egyptian universities by storm. An AUC student started it on March 21, allowing people to write about their crushes on campus by sending anonymous mes­sages. After that, that student posts the message on the page for everyone to see.

After the AUC Facebook page took off, other universities created their own.

Within a week, the AUC Crushes page had 14,000 Likes. Given that there are less than 6,000 students on campus, this number suggests that even some non-AUCians have joined in.

There are mixed reactions among AU­Cians regarding the page. Some of them believe that it is just for fun and use this page as a way to pass time. Alumna Mari­am Fishere, said: “I think it is funny and entertaining; I like it, actually.”

Similarly, Dina Hassan, a psychology major, said that she loves the page be­cause she enjoys reading the posts and laughing.

On the other hand, Ingie Ezzat, a psychology major, said: “There’s lame, there’s pathetic, then there’s ‘AUC Crushes’. It is now a means to play jokes on people.”

Mariam Matar, a philosophy major, agreed with Ezzat.

“It really objectifies people and limits them to their looks. Suddenly, everyone is going around and measuring peoples’ value based on whether or not their name is on AUC crushes,” Matar said.

Salma Khalifa, a psychology major, finds herself annoyed at the whole pros­pect which she says is the “Most ridic­ulous thing that has been created since that stupid AUC’s gossip girl!”

Gossip Girl was a website that was trying to reveal secrets and gossip about people in AUC like, much in tandem with the theme of the popular American TV series Gossip Girl.

However, it was not successful and it quickly shut down. Its creator had said that it was for a project to see how many people would actually fall into the gossip circle.

Bassma Taher, a construction engi­neering major, had a different thought about the page. “With all due respect, it is public harassment. Someone says the detailed description of a girl or a boy; then people tag that person in the post and other people will go to ‘check them out’ and watch them in the university. It is really disgusting,” she said.

Some believe that people started to write posts about themselves to feel some self-worth since this page is be­coming a standard for popularity.

“I can bet you 1000 EGP that some of the posts by AUC crushes are people writing about themselves just to get at­tention,” Seham Kafafi, a psychology major, said,.

There were some unusual posts.

“I have a confession to make. I have a crush on the guy who works at Cinna­bon. His name is Hatem. He is the one with the cute, sexy smile. I go everyday to get coffee from Cinnabon just so that he can smile at me and say good morning. He is beautiful. I don’t know how to tell him, though, and I don’t know how he will react. I love Hatem, the Cinnabon man,” one post read.

The page continues to gain more Likes every day. The website’s administrator, predicted that whether or not one agrees with the idea of the Facebook page, its rising popularity cannot be denied.