A new website, whose founder describes it as a departure from “conventional” dating sites, has expanded to include Northwestern.
Called eduHookups, the site advertises itself as a place “where fun comes to thrive” and consists of anonymous listings for “casual,” “serious” and “platonic” relationships.
The site was founded in February by a University of Chicago undergraduate student and has received national media attention. In its first editio it was the UChicago Hookups but changed its name after expanding this week to include NU and other schools.
EduHookups’s founder, a pre-med student who wished to be identified only as “Steve,” said the site began as part of a class project. Several ideas were pitched, but ultimately he and his group decided to produce a website that exclusively focused on “hooking up” rather than potential relationships.
“We wanted something students would be interested in,” Steve said. “We thought a hook-up site would be good because as far as we knew there weren’t other sites like this that existed. The University of Chicago has a reputation of being somewhat socially awkward or socially repressed, we figured, why not try to change that?”
He said the site has been successful enough so far, with 900 students registered, that they have been able to expand to include NU and Columbia College Chicago. Next, they are taking on Washington University in St. Louis, Yale and Brown.
Steve said they plan to target highly ranked academic institutions and areas where several schools are clustered in cities but may eventually include state schools, smaller schools and “less-known” schools. He said this is in part by design.
“In my opinion, the more higher-caliber schools tend to have more liberal and open-minded students,” Steve said. “We feel to capitalize on that is the most effective way to expand the site, at first at least.”
Students post anonymously, but they must register to use the site using a “.edu” email address from the schools eduHookups currently serves.
Steve said this, along with ban systems and industry-standard encryption methods, should protect students on the site.
“We are able to weed out users with malicious intentions,” he said.
About 50 NU students have registered with the site so far. Reactions have been mixed both among national and local news outlets and students.
“Since we did start with the idea of hooking up, I think that’s considered not socially acceptable to people,” Steve said. “Admittedly, it’s attracted controversy and criticism.”
Berkcan Akpinar said he had not heard of the site but did not plan to use it.
“I think it’s creepy,” the Weinberg sophomore said. “It’s weird as hell. That’s a loss of dignity.”
Weinberg freshman Kate Ransdell said she had heard about eduHookups but did not feel positively about it.
“I think it’s sad you can’t approach someone in person,” she said.
Weinberg sophomore Zane Khademi said the idea of the site was funny.
“They have to be pretty desperate,” he said.
In an opening monologue of “The Tonight Show,” host Jay Leno provided some commentary as well.
“A place to hook up with college kids? There’s already a place for that,” he said. “It’s called college.”
