Monday, September 21st, all was quiet. Tired students rolled into their classes, or set up their study sessions in the library, unsuspecting. That’s when it happened. It all started in Dr. Shultz’s Organic Chemistry 3 course when three students stumbled in, very late to the lesson. The students announced themselves as new transfers to Goucher College. With 15 minutes left of class, Dr. Schultz brushed it off. Without warning, the Hoffberger loudspeakers went off, “If you are the students who spread poop in the first-floor bathrooms, please report to the Dean’s Office immediately.” The students gave it a second, then admitted to being the culprits as they sulked out of the class. “I didn’t even know we had loudspeakers,” another student mentioned, recalling the event. In fact, there are no loudspeakers in Hoffberger, it seems to have been a hidden Bluetooth speaker the students had brought in. The last prankster visibly picked up his telephone, which had been presumably recording the whole time. The only thing that annoyed Dr. Schultz was “…the course material I didn’t even get to.”
Next, the library, the same loudspeaker farce. This time the announcement claimed, “If you are the students who snuck girls in the men’s bathroom, we know who you are. Report to the Dean’s office immediately.” A similar event was replicated in a Psych class that afternoon. Faculty were notified of the events through a widespread email, and many professors decided to lock their doors to prevent unwanted pranks during their lessons.
The culture of pranks is unfamiliar to Goucher (besides The Quidecim’s yearly April Fools edition). According to FMS reports from 1970 onward, casual pranks are infrequent at Goucher. In 2009, a student attempted to hide another student’s clothing in a tree. In 1998, a student falsely pulled a fire alarm to wake up Mary Fisher residents at 2:11 AM, a suspected prank. In 1993, there was a series of prank phone calls. Now added to the list: false news about the bathroom.
By Kate Wisneskey ‘28
Be First to Comment