At some point in your career at Wesleyan, The Argus just won’t come out soon enough or—heaven forbid—Wesleying won’t update quick enough for you to get some vital update or piece of news. Luckily for all of us, the fine people in charge of and around Wesleyan University are on top of this social media wagon, and sometimes, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds are your best shot for up-to-the-minute information. But even beyond the immediate, some of these pages and feeds, run by the departments or by student groups or even by anonymous individuals, can be interesting, thought-provoking, hilarious, and full of discussions, tips, commentary, and quips that will enrich your experience here. Or at the very least, give you a cheap laugh.
After the success of last year’s list, I’ve updated our collection of the essential (and currently active) social media accounts, as well as some of Wesleying’s personal favorites. Your suggestions in the comments and on Twitter are now included—but still, this isn’t complete, and new accounts are being created every year: Roth-dog himself only got his Twitter going recently (and has 1K followers fewer than us! Suck it!). Chime in once again for things you think were passed over, because the official school-approved list (which doesn’t even include Wesleying) just won’t suffice. There are also individual Twitter feeds (both student and alumni) you’ll find useful to follow, but you’re on your own for discovering those. Nobody uses Pinterest, so don’t bother looking.
Primary News Sources (for everything important that goes on campus)
Wesleying
- Extremely active social media maintained by yours truly and some other Wesleying staffers. We retweet a lot of stuff, sometimes humorously, sometimes seriously.
- Facebook – @wesleying
Wesleyan University
- Maintained by the fine folks at the Office of University Communications, extremely active.
- Facebook – @wesleyan_u – Tumblr – Flickr – Youtube – Instagram – LinkedIn
The Wesleyan Argus
- Wesleyan University’s bi-weekly, student-run newspaper. Only really updates social media or its website when the paper comes out on Tuesday and Friday.
- Facebook – @wesleyanargus
Secondary Sources (for more specific inquiries)
Alumni/WesConnect
- WesConnect is an online community for Wesleyan alumni. Also maintains an online blog. Alumni are just like you and me, but graduated. There are a bunch of ways for you to get in touch with them!
- WesConnect Facebook – @wesconnected – Twitter alumni list – LinkedIn alumni group
Aural Wes
- Organizing, booking, and writing the Wesleyan music scene. Their website has some pretty great feature articles, and check their social media feeds for concert updates.
- Facebook – @AuralWes
Bon Appetit
- The people who run our dining halls, if you didn’t know! It’s about as exciting as a Twitter run by a management company—which it is.
- Facebook – @WesleyanDining
Broad Street Books
- Your source for books and textbooks and everything book related that’s not at the libraries.
Career Center
- Internship and job postings, career advice, events, meet and greets, and lots of exclamation marks.
- Facebook – @WesCareerCenter
Center for the Arts
- Shows, blogs, events, and everything creative and Wesleyan-sponsored. Covers art/art history, music, theater, and dance.
- Facebook – @WesCFA – Youtube
Center for Humanities
- One of the oldest humanities institutes in the US, and your source for Humanities events (which cover about a third of the departments here).
- Facebook – @WesHumanities
Center for Prison Education
- Wesleyan’s acclaimed program providing liberal arts education to prisoners in two Connecticut correctional facilities. Their social media posts a lot about prison reform and social justice.
- Facebook – @WesCPE
Democrats
- Wesleyan Democrats student group, being all liberal-like.
- @WesDems
Department of Astronomy
- Stars, man, what are those about?
- @WesAstro
Department of Athletics
Department of Classical Studies
- When in Greece and Rome, learn as the Grecians and Romans did.
EON
- Environmental Organizer’s Network, a coalition of student groups dedicated to solving environmental issues.
- Facebook – @WesEON
Film Series
- The best f*cking film series you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. Not just for shut-ins and Film Majors.
- Facebook – @FilmSeries
Germinal Fund
- A student-run nonprofit offering microloans and pro-bono consulting to Middletown entrepreneurs. Website!
- Facebook – @GerminalFund
Graduate Liberal Arts Studies
Green Street Arts Center
- A Wesleyan-run community center providing arts education, outreach, events, and a recording studio.
- Facebook – @WesGreenStreet
Hermes
- Magazine of political, critical and creative thought. They just came back from the dead, don’t tweet a lot, but they put out an issue every once in a while.
- Facebook – @WesleyanHermes
History & Theory
- Wesleyan’s quarterly academic journal focusing on the theory and philosophy of history, with executive editor Ethan Kleinberg, Prof. of History and Letters.
- Facebook – @ekleinberg
Information Technology Services
- Learn to love them. These guys and gals operate all the tech of Wesleyan, fix computers, solve viruses, and will let you know about any campus-wide technological difficulties.
- Facebook – @wes_itsinfo
Institute for Curational Practice in Performance
- Not just a newcomer to Twitter, but to Wesleyan: “The first institute of its kind, a center for the academic study of the presentation and contextualization of contemporary performance.”
- @WesICPP
Library
- Art Library, Olin, and SciLi are all united under the Library feeds. They post quotes of the day as well as book-related events and information.
- Facebook – @WesLibNews
Long Lane Organic Farm
- Wesleyan’s student-run organic farm, producing food to sell to farmer’s markets or the dining hall, or donated to charities.
- Facebook – Blogspot
Method Magazine
- Wesleyan’s student lifestyle magazine, posting sporadically.
- Facebook – @methodmagtweets
New Media Lab
- Run by ITS, a tech support team for websites, video production, and other technologies more complicated than Twitter.
- @WesMediaLab
Office of Community Service and Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship
- Be civically engaged! Opportunities for getting involved are hereabouts.
- OCS Facebook – PCSE Facebook – @Wes_engage – Tumblr
Office of Equity and Inclusion
- Didn’t even know this existed until they got a Twitter the other day! Say hello!
- @WesInclusion
Office of Residential Life
- Your guide to moving in, getting settled, and feeling safe and comfortable at Wesleyan.
- Facebook – @WesResLife
Office of Sustainability
- Promoting sustainable practices and living across campus, and focused on reducing Wesleyan’s carbon footprint.
- Facebook – @sustainablewes
President Roth
- Roth-dog himself! Pretty sure he does his tweeting himself, cause there’s a lot of stuff about his newly-released book.
- @mroth78 – Blog
Relay for Life
- The Wesleyan chapter of the spring overnight event raising money for the American Cancer Society.
Russell House
- Series of prose and poetry writers, as well as music events, sponsored by Writing at Wesleyan.
- @WesRussellHouse – iTunes Podcasts
SHOFCO
- Shining Hope For Communities, an amazing charity founded by Kennedy Odede ’12 with its own Wesleyan chapter.
- Facebook – @SHOFCO_Wesleyan – @hope2shine
Summer & Winter Sessions at Wesleyan
- These just popped up, so I think they’ll be tweeting about Wesleyan’s under-utilized Summer Session and new Winter Session
- @summeratwes – @winteratwes
Unlocked Magazine
- Student-run art and sexuality magazine.
- @UnlockedMag
Usdan University Center
- The focal point of activity and central programming space for the University. Unaffiliated with the superior @UsdanCooks.
Waves Magazine
- An online-only music publication focusing on Wesleyan’s vibrant and eclectic music scene.
- Facebook – @WAVES_Magazine – WordPress
Wes, Divest!
- Calling on Wesleyan University to clear its investments in fossil fuel companies.
- @WesDivest
WesHack
Wesleyan Media Project
- A project tracking all campaign ads run by federal and state election candidates across the country.
- @wesmediaproject
Wes Pregame
- Game-day sports content, brought to you by IMS.
- Facebook – @WesPregame
Weshop
- Lets you know when they have watermelons and when customers are being ridiculous.
- @WeshopWisdom
WesSlam
- Slam poetry team and club hosting competitions and writing workshops.
WesStuffed
- A student-run food blog. Extensive and constantly updating about finding eats around Middletown and for your own dorm.
- Facebook – @WesStuffed – WordPress
Wesleyan University Press
- All about the University’s publishing program, focusing on poetry, music, dance, science fiction studies, film-TV, and Connecticut history and culture.
- Facebook – @weslpress
WESU 88.1
- Wesleyan’s non-commercial community radio station. You can also see playlists and a blog on their website.
- Facebook – @WESUmiddletown
WesWell
- AKA the Office of Health Education, not only a place for free condoms and safe sex supplies, but also the home of the Peer Health Advocates office. Healthy minds, healthy bodies!
- Facebook – @weswell_pha
WesWings and Red & Black Cafe
- Owners and employees of the Red & Black Café and WesWings post announcements, specials, promote their workers and alumni, and make nice with other Twitter pages. Highly recommended.
- @WesWings – @RBCWes
WILD (Working for Intelligent Landscape Design) Wes
- Student group redesigning the landscape of our fair campus, from WestCo to the Butts, documenting with lots of pictures.
- @WILD_Wesleyan – WordPress
Writer’s Conference
- Our yearly, summer, super-legit Writer’s Conference, who also have a webpage of their own. Students and pros welcome!
- @weswritersconf
WSA
- Wesleyan Student Assembly, undergraduate government, voice piece for The Man. But usually working hard to make this school better.
- Facebook – @WSAnews
Cardinals Sports Pages
Baseball— @WesBaseball
Basketball (Men’s)— @WesleyanHoops
Football— @Wes_Football
Golf— @CardinalGolf
Ice Hockey (Women’s)— @WIH_Wesleyan
Lacrosse (Men’s)— @Wes_Lacrosse
Lacrosse (Women’s)— @WesLacrosse
Sailing— @WesSailing
Soccer (Women’s)— @WesWomensSoccer
Softball— @Wes_Softball
Track & Field— @WesleyanTrack
Light Reading (for everything else)
Ampersand
- The original Wesleyan humor publication. Found on the back of the Argus and in the deep recesses of the Internet.
- Facebook – @WesAmpersand – Tumblr
Giant Joint
- Perennial WSA candidate, advocate of legalization, 4/20 enthusiast
- @giantjoint420
Mathilde
President Roth’s dog. You’ll see her if you take his Modern and Postmodern class. Still not sure who her publicist is.@mathildog
Overheard At Wes
- The funniest things somebody else said on campus. Send in your submissions via email or tweet.
- @OverheardAtWes
Sh*t Wes Fresh Say
- Difficult to describe… it’s funny, just follow it.
- @shitwesfreshsay
The Real Michael Roth
- Not actually the real Michael Roth. Or is he? #thisiswhy
- @THE_REAL_MROTH
Usdan Cooks
Nobody knows who runs the infamous Twitter account representing the wonderful workers over at Usdan, but they’re always happy to tweet back.@UsdanCooks
WeirdWes
Wes Compliments
- Just started last year, still going strong. Email in your compliment or send a personal message, and make somebody’s day.
WesHipster
- “wesleyan hipsters. so dope”
- @WesHipster
WeSNL
Wesleyan Unity
- Even more difficult to describe.
- @WesUnity
WesWhisperer
- See: Overheard At Wes.
- @WesWhispers
Other Relevant Accounts Worth Following
In The ‘Cac
Middletown Patch
- Online-only news coverage of Middletown, CT. Website over hereaways.
- Facebook – @MiddletnCTPatch
Middletown Press
- A daily newspaper covering Middlesex County, CT, run by editor Cassandra Day (formerly of the Patch). Find their website here.
- @MiddletownPress
Middletown Police Department
- Breaking news updates, arraignment reports, and the occasional #tbt from your friendly local police department.
- @CTMiddletownPD
NESCAC
- We’re all in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Read up on your competition here.
- @NESCAC
NoRA Cupcake Company
- Cupcake truck. Find it on late nights and taste heaven. Check for their weekly flavors and new inventions, and delicious photos.
- Facebook – @NoRACupcakeCo – Instagram
Post-Wesleying
- Imitation is the highest form of flattery, but when will they actually post anything?
- @postwesleying – Website
Whey Station
- A husband and wife-run mobile food (read: grilled cheese) truck that will become your best friend on late nights. Come here to find out hours and specials.
- Facebook – @wheystation
BONUS: Things You Think Are Wesleyan But Aren’t Actually Our Wesleyan
Wesleyan Mutual
- “offering specialist financial advice to doctors, dentists, teachers, and lawyers. Please don’t tweet personal details.” Challenge accepted.
- @Wesleyan
Wesleyan Church
- “Transforming lives, churches, and communities through the hope and holiness of Jesus Christ.” They’re a lot of what you see on #Wesleyan
- @WesleyanChurch
Wesleyan College
- College, not University. One is an all-girl’s school in Macon, Georgia; the other is us.
- @WesleyanCollege
Wellesley College
- Again, all-girl’s, in Massachusetts, not us.
- @Wellesley
Other Wesleyans
- @Wesleyan_university (doesn’t exist)
- @wesleyanuniv (not the real one)
- And John Wesley’s copycats: @IndWes, @Il_Wesleyan, @KyWesleyan, @OhioWesleyan, @WVWesleyan, @TexasWesleyan, @NEWesleyan, and I’m sure many, many others.
Happy social media-ing, and don’t forget to use #thisiswhy ironically!