By John Custodio

Joshua Barbour, known as “Uber Josh” among students, is a common sight around the night streets of Oswego, ferrying partygoers around town in exchange for $5 or $10. However, Barbour is a controversial figure among students and is a persona non grata on SUNY Oswego campus grounds. Barbour is petitioning for his persona non grata order to be removed.

Barbour started driving for Uber over four years ago, and only drove through the Uber app for two years. He said he decided to stop driving through Uber when people started messaging him directly to request him, a feature that Uber’s app does not allow. In his two years for Uber, Barbour said he gave over 7,000 rides which he said is an extremely high rate. During the week, Barbour works a full-time job at a health insurance company. On busy weekdays and the weekend, he said he will drive until the people stop requesting him, and said he will average 50 to 60 rides on a Friday or Saturday.

Barbour’s vehicle is very distinct from other Ubers, driving a 2012 red Kia Soul with a custom logo, a $3,000 speaker system and custom lights in and out of the vehicle. Barbour said he has put more money into upgrading his vehicle than it is worth.

“When I first started out, I just got out of a long-term relationship, seven years,” Barbour said. “It was three months after I got out of that relationship that I started Uber driving because I needed something to do to occupy my time.”

Originally from Virginia, Barbour said he lived in Fayetteville for a few years before moving to Oswego after his relationship ended. He started Ubering to do something late at night instead of “moping around the house, miserable.”

Barbour said it was also the social element of driving that drew him to driving so much, giving him an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.

“In a small town like Oswego you drive around the same people a lot because there aren’t as many drivers,” Barbour said. “So you see the same people a lot, and it became more of like a service I would do for friends.”

When he was younger, Barbour said he would always be his friends’ designated driver and takes pride in getting people home safe. 

However, while he sees driving people around as a way to help friends and as a side hustle, SUNY Oswego has deemed him a “persona non grata,” Latin for “person not welcome,” on campus grounds for violating state, local and college COVID-19 mandates in 2020.

In a letter sent on Sept. 17, 2020, and posted by Barbour to his Instagram account “@UberJosh89,” then-SUNY Oswego Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jerri Howland cited screenshots from social media that were submitted to their office of Barbour and students in his vehicle without face masks on. Howland’s letter referenced New York and local mandates that state Uber employees and passengers must wear masks while in the vehicle. Citing Part 535.6 (b) of Title 8 NYCRR Ch. V, Barbour was declared a persona non grata on all campus grounds of SUNY Oswego.

In the letter, Howland said “Persona non grata status means that effective September 17, 2020 you are prohibited from entering onto the grounds or into any facility of this institution without prior written consent from this office.”

“If University Police finds me on campus grounds, I can be prosecuted for trespassing,” Barbour said. “And that means my car being on campus grounds, on the roads even.”

When Barbour received the notice, he said he was extremely surprised. Barbour said when he saw a parcel from SUNY Oswego, he was excited and hoped it was a gesture of thanks for getting students around safely. Barbour said his persona non grata will never naturally expire and it must be appealed to be removed.

“At that point, I had been driving for the local community for almost three years,” Barbour said. “To and from campus, dropping students off, getting them home safe, and I thought the school was sending me something to acknowledge that; A thank you. When I opened it, I was like, it this real?”

Barbour contacted the college in October of 2020 to request his persona non grata be overturned, and was denied. He requested again in April of 2021 and was denied again, so Barbour created a petition and posted about it on his Instagram to garner support from SUNY Oswego community members. As of Nov. 18, 58 signatures are on Barbour’s change.org petition.

Barbour said he wants to be allowed on campus again so he can drive students directly to their dorms instead of having to drop them off outside of campus. He said the closest he can get people to west campus dorms is Bev’s Dairy Treat, and just outside of Sheldon Hall for Lakeside campus dorms. Barbour said for students looking to get to Lakeside, he usually declines as he does not want people walking that far. Barbour said it is not about the money that he could get from campus rides, but from a place of good will and wanting to get people home safe.

However, sophomore Jarrad Wakefield says they were warned to avoid Barbour by their resident assistant, and have seen Barbour on campus despite being a persona non grata. Wakefield said he has seen Barbour driving on campus with his lights off to avoid being seen.

“When I’ve seen him driving multiple times down, what I think is called, Iroquois Way, over by west campus, with his lights off and coming onto campus with his lights off by Rudolph Way,” Wakefield said. “I think that indicates there’s some interesting stuff going on. All I have to say is if you’re a trustworthy and reputable person, you shouldn’t be turning your lights off to drive around campus.”

Around campus, Barbour is a controversial figure with rumors of harassment and inappropriate behavior against him. However, no formal charges have been filed against him and some long-time riders like Jackie Pagliocca do not believe the rumors. Pagliocca said over the past three years that if she was going out Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, she would usually ride with Barbour two out of the three nights and has never had any problems.

“He talks to me like I’m a regular human being, and not some “college girl.” Honestly, a lot of the times when I hear allegations against him, it’s coming from a man,” Pagliocca said. “And not to say anything about that, but it’s usually the guys saying ‘Oh, it’s Uber Josh’ and none of the girls I talk to have said anything about that. So I think it could have really been a rumor that has just been circulated and just the guys being protective over their girlfriends.”

Barbour said in the spring semester of 2019, a friend informed him people were spreading a rumor that he had followed an intoxicated student into Seneca Hall. Barbour denied the allegation via Instagram post, and said he is still dealing with it two years later.

“You can google my name, it is public record, there is nothing outside of these anonymous comments,” Barbour said.

Online comments are a major source of rumors about Barbour, with Instagram comments and the anonymous forum app “YikYak” commonly hosting messages commenting on Barbour. Under a non-college affiliated SUNY Oswego meme Instagram account post on Nov. 9, 2020, Instagram user @kylejspisak commented “Frick Uber Josh all my homies severely dislike Uber josh.” Others said Barbour was “creepy” and discussed him posting mostly pictures with college-aged girls in his car or late at night to his Instagram.

Barbour said he thinks other Uber or Lyft drivers and people with personal problems against him started the rumors, and that he has not done anything to anyone. 

“I became popular very quickly, and I don’t think [other drivers] liked that,” Barbour said. “So they started a rumor, and told one of their passengers ‘Oh, Uber Josh did this.’” 

While Barbour and some students support his plight to end the persona non grata, SUNY Oswego has not made a statement about him. When reached for comment, interim Dean of Students Christy Huynh said via email that she had no comment at this time.

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Image via Josh Barbour