One Year Later: Is the Fabric of Kellogg Still Intact?
- Cathy Campo
- Nov 23, 2025
- 4 min read
It’s been one year since a single #hot_takes post ignited what can only be described as Kellogg’s greatest culture debate.
On October 24th 2024, Marshall Reisig (2Y ‘25) declared to the Slack masses: “First year students need to step up and attend events or the fabric of Kellogg culture will start to tear apart.”
The message—part plea, part provocation—spread faster than a KWEST hookup. Within hours, the post had amassed 143 “💯” reactions and nearly 300 reactions total, ranging from “sus” to “facts.” Responses from then-first years (now the current second years) were… let’s just say, not exactly approving. Fall quarter, after all, is a notoriously chaotic season of case prepping, coffee chats, and trying to remember the names of your sectionmates. The idea that the class’s “fabric” was unraveling because people weren’t paying for parties didn’t exactly resonate.
Yet, Brandon Frazal (MBAi ‘25) doubled down on Marshall’s post commenting, “Midterms are not an excuse to skip events… it’s literally business school,” garnering 58 “💯” reacts of his own.
As expected, not everyone was on Team Fabric Panic. Defending the then-first years, Jamie Asfaw-Cooper (2Y ‘26) fired back: “Maybe don’t shame people for not paying $80 week after week for these events.” Her reply racked up nearly 100 reacts—solid numbers by #hot_takes standards. (For context, the average post last year received 68 reactions, according to very serious analytics compiled by 2Y ’26 Conrad Mitchell.)
Quickly, “the fabric of Kellogg” evolved into its own meme. Kiki Katsarakes (2Y ‘26) cemented her status as part of Kellogg lore by showing up to the Kellogg Spirit Society Halloween party dressed as the literal fabric of Kellogg tearing apart (complete with scissors, giving any first-year the opportunity to tear her outfit). A photo of her costume—shared by Nicole Becker (1Y ‘25) in #hot_takes—earned another 150 reacts and solidified “the fabric” as Kellogg canon.
On February 18th, Kiki Katsarakes (2Y ‘26) fanned the flames once again, posting: “Oh no second years at Noiree Soirée? Hmm #fabric #torn.” Her post? Nearly 150 reacts.
Now, one year later from Marshall’s original post, The Kelloggian sat down with Kiki to see how our beloved fabric is holding up.
The Story Behind the Meme
For Kiki, the story behind the humor was personal.
Before Kellogg, the Greek-American Boston native spent years being misdiagnosed with anxiety and panic disorders, when what she actually had was ADHD. “Starting Kellogg at 31 years old was the first time I got to be a student since being correctly diagnosed and treated,” she said. “I never thought I’d get a do-over of going to school where I could just be myself. To my amazement, I’m living it now. I spent most of my life being measured, peripheral, and terrified. Kellogg has been a testing ground for me to unmask and let people see me.”
“And unmasking is a tricky thing,” she continued. “You basically let go of all the ways you adapted to mimic the behavior of neurotypical people around you to avoid skepticism and criticism. Some people really don't like people who deviate from their expectations. It hasn't been without its challenges, as you know,”—referencing one of her KWEST leaders who announced in front of the whole group that he found her “unbecoming of a Kellogg leader.” Kiki laughs now recalling the incident “I was like, huh? I barely know you, dude. You just don’t like me and that's okay—I'm not for everyone. Unbecoming of a Kellogg leader though? Sir, I fear the call is coming from inside the house.”
Deciding to use it for branding, Kiki made “unbecoming as a Kellogg Leader” her Slack bio during her successful campaign for Turkey section co-leader. “I told my section [about the situation] and they gassed me up,” she said. “And with that, through a bit of vulnerability, we successfully inverted this negative label into positive social momentum.”
When not two months later, the class of 2026 was chastised for ‘ripping the fabric,’ Kiki was ready to roll, having already validated her trolling thesis: just agree and add it to the brand. “Parts of me were left behind growing up just to survive,” she said. “Especially the ‘unbecoming’ bits which are actually some of my best things! At Kellogg, I picked them back up, painted them on a big dumb purple shirt from the Salvation Army, and wore it proudly.”
The Fabric, One Year Later
Today, Kiki describes the new class of first years as “chill, impressive—and dare I say, becoming.” She laughs at how the “fabric” meme continues to resurface, calling it “a gift that keeps on giving.”
“I thought I’d rebrand this year as ‘grounded and hinged,’” she joked, “but it has a life of its own. I credit Kellogg for that—we love beating a dead horse to a pulp, resurrecting it, and beating it again.”
The rivalry between classes, she says, is mostly in good fun—to a point. “#Hot_takes is best when it’s good-natured and engaging. If your takes are just mean, CAPS [Northwestern’s Counseling and Psychologic
al Services] is a hop, skip, and an affordable copay away. All of us need to touch grass every now and again.” Read More by Cathy Campo: The Bureaucratic Battle to Bring Broth to Kellogg Who Is Cameron Greenwalt? Inside the Mind of Kellogg's Most Prolific Slack Poster Trolley Night Sparks 1Y Prom Funding Controversy