In Context: 5 Web Perspectives On A Story In The News

Pranks on campus

(The Charlatan) Five UBC engineering students were arrested for trying to hang a Volkswagen beetle off the side of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, a prank that did not go as they had planned. Police discovered students dangling the car off the bridge the morning of Feb. 2. The vehicle plunged into Burrard Inlet after the ropes holding it reportedly failed. Pranks involving VW Beetles in particular have been a UBC ritual since 1980, when engineering students put a Beetle on the Ladner clock tower. Students have also hung Beetles from other bizarre places, such as a rollercoaster and the Lions Gate Bridge.  This is the first time engineering students would be charged for a prank, with each student involved facing possible mischief charges of more than $5,000.

1.

Why do people pull pranks?

New York Times
A New York Times article analyzes the sociology and psychology of the practical joke. Anthropologists have long cited the prank as a key part of rituals around the world intended to include people in a certain group. The article references coming of age pranks from around the globe, such as one conducted by the Daribi of New Guinea, who tell young children to bury a small box in the ground and wait for a treasure to appear. When the children dig up their boxes, instead of treasure, they find human feces. The article also references ‘60s activist and prankster Abbie Hoffman's division of pranks into three categories: good, neutral and bad. Good pranks humorously satirize human failings or fears, neutral pranks are physical in nature involving stunts such as wrapping toilets in cellophane, and Hoffman describes bad pranks as "degradation ceremonies." The article concludes with an editorial opinion that good pranks are the simulation of a crisis, not the real thing.

2.

Arson “pranks” plague Mississippi College

Clinton News
Mississippi College is offering students roughly $3,000 for information relating to a fire that occurred in a dormitory January. The fire is believed to be part of a series of "prank fires," that had occurred on campus earlier. "Of course, we don't consider this a prank at all," the college's public relations director Tracey Harrison said. No one was injured in the fire, but administration had to temporarily relocate 50 students, as the fire caused extensive damage to the building and filled the entire dormitory with smoke. Fire department officials say that if the prank had happened at two or three in the morning, when people were sleeping, there could have been deaths.

3.

College pranks in the Victorian era

New York Times
A New York Times article from 1884 reports about a prank pulled by a university student in Berlin, with typical Victorian-era disdain. "German university students are privileged beings, who may outrage propriety and good manners without arousing the wrath of either Professors or public," reports the article. Apparently, a student "paraded about one of the most frequented streets of Berlin in a lady's white petticoat, a red-feather hat, with a sunshade held gracefully aloft." The student attracted a crowd and the attention of the police, and took refuge in a nearby house. The student had lost a bet made to a friend, which was why he chose to humiliate himself publicly this way. The reporter suggests the young man ought to have been punished, and speculates that Germans are too easy on unruly students.

4.

History of panty raids

MinnPost.com
This article provides a history of panty-raids on U.S. campuses. Apparently, 1952 was a big year for this type of prank, as panty-raids spread across the nation, to campuses such as the University of Minnesota. Thousands of male students raided female dormitories in droves, stealing their underwear. Headlines such as "More Lingerie Looters by U.S. Students," and "Lust for Lace Grips Students all over the U.S." hit the papers. Time and Life magazines both published articles about the bizarre fad, the former denouncing it and the latter displaying a photo-spread. Women were not always the victims in these raids either, as they were sometimes complicit. While they sometimes retaliated by sabotaging their own underwear, other times they were seen "leaning from windows and balconies, twirling bras and panties above their heads," the author reports.

5.

College prank show gets spot on MTV

New York Times
Although at times juvenile, college pranks have a large following. College Humor, a website displaying pranks and jokes appealing to the teenage to 20-something crowd, made its debut last Sunday on MTV, as The College Humor Show. College Humor started in 1999 and initially consisted of user-submitted photos and videos of pranks and escapades in college towns. The website was bought out by InterActiveCorp in 2006. The show operates on an all play and no work premise, depicting young office workers pulling pranks such as destroying printers or playing beer pong. The College Humor Show saves costs by using its own staff and offices, rather than sets and actors, making it a hybrid between reality TV and scripted storytelling.