By Maggie Skellie
Some Bellarmine students and staff enjoy the bad parking behaviors of others on campus. An anonymous Instagram page has gone above and beyond to collect and post images of Bellarmine’s worst parkers.
Bellarmine Bad Parkers (@bellarminebadparkers) is an Instagram page that highlights images of cars on campus that go over parking lines, prevent others from parking, or create their own spots on grass, sidewalks, and other areas. They began posting on Oct. 18, 2021, with their first caption reading “First victim. Oh honey, what were you thinking? Didn’t your mom tell you to color in the lines? You should apply that with driving.”
As the account gained popularity, more students began taking photos of bad parking jobs on campus and submitting them to the Instagram page. The intention of this account is to provide entertainment to its followers through images of poorly parked cars. The page has 330 posts and 705 followers. One of their captions from December 2023 reads “Good luck on finals! Don’t fail them like you do at parking.”
The account has had multiple owners to keep the page running as student-owners graduated. In an anonymous interview with the current page owner, they said “As far as I know, there have been either three or four owners. Faith Omart was the first, and revealed herself after she graduated. I’m pretty sure she gave it to a friend, and then it was given to another person, who gave full ownership to me last semester.”
The Instagram page has become a respected and well-known entity among students and professors alike. Kyle Barnett, Associate Professor of Communications said: “I love it. I think it’s fun. I think it’s unofficial. I love when there are voices outside of ‘official Bellarmine.’ I would love to see more of that. Just signs of life, little bits of Bellarmine culture. We get to laugh at the bad parkers, and we get to worry that one day the bad parker might be me.”
Bellarmine senior Lily Miller has had her car posted on the Bellarmine Bad Parkers Instagram page three or more times. “I like it [because] I know that everyone is being featured [on the Instagram page] and it’s not generating hate comments. The community isn’t hateful, we’re all just bad at parking,” she said.
Miller said she doesn’t repark, even though she fears being featured on the Instagram account. “I think [that I should repark], but I don’t act on it,” she said.
The account’s current owner said “Everyone knows [the posts are] all in good fun. I’d never do it to publicly shame someone. I’ve only ever had one person complain in the comments about a car I posted and three other people defended me after, which I think is incredible.”
Bellarmine Bad Parkers is not the first anonymous page dedicated to humor for the Bellarmine population. Many Bellarmine non-affiliated accounts have been the subject of conversation for students. From @bellar.memes and @_knightlymemes_ - which made posts dedicated to relevant jokes shared among the Bellarmine student body - to @squirellsofbellarmine - which shared images of squirrels spotted around campus, these anonymous pages create a sense of community for those who follow them and showcase the sense of humor of Bellarmine students.
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