Barstool vs. STUGO

By Kamila A-F

On Tuesday, September 23, Spirit Week for MRHS turned into a controversial day, as two competing student bodies chose different themes for alumni to choose from. 

Tie dye was the official theme announced by the student government, however the MRHS Barstool account run by students had uploaded a post that encouraged students to wear Y2K clothes instead. Many students saw this as a way to go against the repeating themes chosen by student government the past few years, while others believe it was disrespectful. 

Those who chose to dress in Y2K, such as sophomore student Riley L. expressed she was actually really glad for the new theme chosen by Barstool, as the original themes were “bland and could’ve been a lot better,” as well as adding that she wishes they could start coming up with more interesting and creative themes. One of the examples she included was Anything-but-a-Backpack day. Another sophomore Caitlyn M. who had dressed in Y2K did include that she questioned if Barstool truly had the power to make choices like this while also acknowledging she felt better represented. “It’s the student perspective so it helps more,” she had stated in terms of choosing themes. 

Student governments are the ones that have specifically faced the backlash, as they are the ones responsible for choosing not only spirit week, but the themes for events such as homecoming and prom. Despite being the ones daring with the criticism, J

unior Noah K. who was involved in student government last year revealed, “Ultimately it’s admins decisions so a lot of our ideas would get shot down,” and claimed that the students involved did truly make efforts to bring more creativity. Senior Bailey T. also added another reason behind the recycled themes are, “We know they’re easy and we know people like them.” 

In regards to the Mountain Range Barstool account making that post, it has not been the first time they’ve attracted some criticism. English teacher, as well as head of student government, Ian Simpson expressed “We always support them and they didn’t really support us.” and shared that he had come in defense of the account in the past. They did get addressed by student government via instagram, however the post is still up. Due to it being an anonymously ran account, it is difficult to gather too much information on them besides what they post online–usually Finally Friday or sports events. 

While this event only lasted one day, it did raise questions on who truly has influence over the student body at Mountain Range and what should be allowed on the Barstool page.