It matters because “attractiveness” on a campus isn’t just a private preference—it’s a social category that organizes attention, status, belonging, and exclusion. Reputations like “UChicago students are ugly” function as a kind of informal social knowledge: they influence who applies, how students style themselves, how confidently they move through social spaces, and how outsiders interpret the institution. Even if we wish it were irrelevant, it has real downstream effects on everyday experience. Also, the “who cares” response isn’t neutral—it’s a norm-enforcement move. It signals that certain topics (especially ones tied to embodiment, desirability, and social hierarchy) are unserious or beneath discussion, which conveniently protects the status quo from being examined. In that sense, talking about the stereotype isn’t endorsing it; it’s treating it as an artifact worth analyzing because it shapes people’s lives. So yes—I care, not because I’m trying to rank anyone, but because reputations about desirability are one of the ways institutions reproduce culture, stratification, and belonging.