Earlier this month student-run meme Instagram account @fordham_flirts rebranded as @fordham_saints. Following the birth of the account in fall 2021, the account quickly amassed thousands of followers and grew in popularity among both Fordham Rose Hill and Lincoln Center students, joining the ranks of other Fordham meme accounts such as @fordumbuniversity.
The account allowed students to “flirt” with their peers by submitting messages of admiration through an anonymous form. The submissions were then reviewed by the account’s administrator and posted daily on Instagram. The account received more than 50 submissions a day.
“I’ve been following since the beginning of my freshman year. There was a lot to like about it — it was fun to see other people making jokes or professing love in truly embarrassing ways. Most of the time the posts seemed fairly harmless, though they could be gross from time to time. There was also always the little thrill of getting a flirt written about you — even if it wasn’t about you directly, you could imagine it was if it was vague enough. Overall, it was just silly and stupid, and everyone needs a certain amount of silliness and stupidity in their lives,” said Daniel Melia, FCRH ’25.
The account’s owner deleted all the previous posts and Fordham Saints now solely features quotes from various Catholic saints such as St. Francis de Sales, Mother Teresa and St. Augustine.
The account’s bio encourages followers to direct message the account if they have a certain quote or saint they would like the administrator to feature.
The account’s unforeseen change to Fordham Saints came as a surprise to students who enjoyed Fordham Flirts’ humorous and fun content.
“First, I was shocked; I saw the Fordumb post about the account dying and I immediately texted the owner,” said Melia. “After thinking about it a bit, it made sense to me — presumably someone reported the account or something, and he was obliged to change it. Knowing him, it was always going to become Fordham Saints if ever it couldn’t be Fordham Flirts anymore,” said Melia.
“I was shocked and sad to see it change to Fordham Saints. I really liked the page and it was very entertaining. I was really sad to see it go,” said Alexa Davidson, FCRH ’25.
The account has lost hundreds of followers since becoming Fordham Saints, but some students continue to follow the account. Whether it’s because they enjoy the account’s new content or because they’re hopeful that the account will revert to Fordham Flirts, students’ reasons for their loyalty to
Fordham Saints varies. The account still has over 3,000 followers.
“I still follow the account just because I was too lazy to unfollow. I don’t go on Instagram much so it wasn’t like Fordham Saints was bothering me at all. I was also waiting to see if it would change back,” said Davidson.
Similarly, Melia is unbothered by the account’s shift in content.
“I still follow Fordham Saints mostly because I still know the owner, but as a practicing Catholic I don’t really mind the new content either. I do miss Fordham Flirts though. No doubt a successor will arise sooner or later.”
The Fordham Saints administrator declined to provide an on-record statement.
However, they did agree to go on-record with an exclusive message: “Mark 1:15.”
Despite the discontinuation of Fordham Flirts, the account’s humor and wit successfully entertained Fordham students for over two years and similar Instagram pages will inevitably try and take its place.
