The 5Cs as

Submission 6,255

About

The 5Cs As is an image macro meme based on a map of the Claremont Colleges (5Cs), a group of liberal arts colleges in Claremont, California. In the meme, each of the campuses (Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College and Pitzer Colleges) has different labels referring to a school stereotype. It is one of the most popular and enduring memes in the Meme Queens of the 5Cs Facebook group.

Origin

The Claremont Colleges (abbreviated 7Cs) are a consortium of five prestigious undergraduate liberal arts colleges (abbreviated 5Cs) and two graduate schools located in Claremont, California, in eastern Los Angeles County.^[1] All but one of the graduate schools share adjacent campuses, and the colleges share some central facilities like a library. The social life of the undergraduate colleges is closely linked. Still, each college maintains a very distinct identity, and stereotypes about each school and its students^[8] have existed since the consortium's formation in 1925.

Pomona College, the oldest and largest of the 5Cs, is typically seen as the most well-rounded and sometimes criticized for having a sense of superiority over the other colleges. In the meme, it is usually represented as the standard or primary element.
Scripps College, the women's college of the 5Cs, is known for its feminism and beautiful campus. It is usually represented as the (often token) female character or most feminine element. This practice has sometimes drawn criticism as reductionist.^[2]
Claremont McKenna College (CMC), historically a men's college through 1976, is seen as jockish, politically conservative, and obsessed with pursuing wealth and power. Its representation usually reflects this.
Harvey Mudd College (HMC), the STEM-focused member of the 5Cs, is known for its quirky STEM nerd culture, challenging academics, and insularity. Its representation usually reflects this.
Pitzer College is known for its radical leftist politics and characterized as an epicenter of hippy culture. Its representation usually reflects this.
The two graduate schools, Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and Keck Graduate Institute (KGI), are seen mainly as unknowns to the undergraduate students. They are often left out of the meme (particularly KGI, since it is not included in the main campus map). Still, when they are represented, it is usually as an entity markedly distinct from the others. They are also sometimes portrayed as an elderly character, given their older student populations. The Claremont School of Theology and Claremont High School, two educational institutions in Claremont not part of the 7Cs, also make occasional appearances, usually in similar roles.
The Claremont Colleges Services (TCCS, formerly "Claremont University Consortium" or CUC), the central administrative body of the 7Cs, is usually left out of the meme but is occasionally represented with an image over the central campus area where most of its buildings are located.

As far back as 1976, a cartoon in the campus newspaper The Student Life compared the colleges' personalities with characters from Star Trek:

For many years, people familiar with the 5Cs, including some campus tour guides, have used an analogy with Scooby-Doo to explain the colleges' personalities to outsiders.^[3] Pomona is Scooby-Doo, Scripps is Daphne, CMC is Fred, Harvey Mudd is Velma, and Pitzer is Shaggy. Although never referenced in the Meme Queens group (except much later as a meta-joke), this can, in some sense, be considered the earliest occurrence of the meme.

Spread

Several meme Facebook pages have existed at the 5Cs,^[4] but meme culture took off with the creation of Meme Queens of the 5Cs, a closed Facebook group for 5C memes, in September 2016. The group quickly grew to well over a thousand members, a substantial fraction of the 5C student population, with popular posts receiving hundreds of likes.^[5]

From the beginning, memes referenced 5C stereotypes, but without using the campus map as a backdrop. Early examples sometimes used the Tag Yourself format, such as this one from December 6, 2016:

The meme took off in earnest in the days following January 15, 2017, with a series of popular posts using the college logos imposed over various different settings:

Several dozen examples followed, cementing the meme's status. The first example of the meme using the map as the base with topical imposed images appeared on January 17. However, the format using the college logos set over a topical base remained the standard until around October 2017.

Almost immediately after its creation, parodies of the meme began to appear, often making fun of how arbitrary the designations were, or using obvious or obviously wrong designations:

Meta versions also took off, such as this one consisting of previous iterations of the meme, with each iteration itself assigned to a school:

The meme has remained a persistent presence in the group from then through the present, waxing and waning in popularity in cycles. It survived all of the most significant events in the group's history, including the "Memepocalypse", the near-deletion of the group in late January 2017 after several admins became overwhelmed with managing controversial content and resigned, as well as the Dig Dog craze^[6]^[7] of March/April 2018.

Some criticized the meme for reinforcing shallow stereotypes, particularly those who feel that their school's perceived stereotypes are unfair or inaccurate. In peak popularity, it has also drawn criticism for overwhelming the group by those who prefer other types of memes.