This thesis explores the themes and interconnections between hookup, dating, and marriage systems with institutions of higher education. Specifically, I pay attention to the role that liberal arts and elite institutions play in the reproduction of cultural, social, and class inequalities and perpetuation of traditional hierarchies. The culmination of the project resulted in the design and partial development of a college community-based dating app I entitled WesFlame. Although development was disrupted by unforeseeable circumstances, WesFlame was developed to test theories that could potentially disrupt traditional gender, race, and mainly class relations. In my first chapter, I set the foundation and origins and connect dating at educational institutions to historical processes of class reproduction utilizing Pierre Bourdieu's cultural capital framework. In Chapter Two, I trace the history of meeting and dating on college campuses and propose that the digital has once again shifted the script slightly, but emphasize that traditional and historically rooted scripts, roles and inequalities still exist within the emerging hybrid script. I also exemplify the invisible processes of institutionalized dating pools leading to social and class reproduction before situating Wesleyan within this broader, theoretical context and history. In Chapter Three, after providing a brief overview of online dating, I review the unique history of online dating on Wesleyan's campus. In Chapter Four, I describe my inspirations and thought processes that influenced the final features and functions of WesFlame.
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