Features

In the late 1960s, some residents of East Hall were more interested in controlling natural forces. After the first spring rains, recalls Rod Ford-Smith '69, they would construct a dam across College Brook. But in 1969, their magnum opus was demolished by the authorities with a backhoe. At 2 a.m., the dorm president called a fire drill, giving the eager beavers the opportunity to rebuild the dam.

One day when Nancy Brockman '84 was bored, she tied her roommate Debbie Snow-Major's huge koala-bear collection together and "Rapunzeled" it out the window of Williamson. Ten stories. "That's how many she had!" says Brockman. (They're still friends.)

Fantastic Fakes

Desperate times sometimes call for creative measures. It didn't seem fair to Bill Nelson '58 that freshmen men were barred from the annual ladiesa teas where older fraternity brothers got to check out all the freshman women. So Nelson and seven friends dressed in drag and went to an SAE tea with a group of women. Despite his physique—6 feet tall and about 200 pounds—Nelson was the only one who made it in. "If I had been caught, I would have been banned from rushing any house," he recalls. "But the girls just kept moving me around."

A mishap can be inspirational for some pranksters—like Emmett Ross '68, who received two, alas, quite-dead baby alligators in the mail from his father. On April Fools' Day, he placed them in College Brook, and was rewarded for his troubles with an article in the student newspaper.

In 1970, Lambda Chi Alpha brothers were inspired to paint a crooked crosswalk across Madbury Road, labeled "Caution, Drunks X-ing." The first year (latex), the police forgave them. The next year (oil), the police were not amused.

Pranks have also been used to relieve the stress of, say, studying for finals. In 1980, Gail Taylor Miller '83 recalls, there was a "letter-writing campaign" in which engineering students repeatedly rearranged the letters on the front of Kingsbury Hall—to read Kingsbury Hell, Hangsbury Kill (and worse). For a time, she says, the letters were just removed entirely. (That was the same year when some students scaled a number of campus buildings, including T-Hall, and planted a pirate flag on top to mark the achievement.) In both the 1960s and 1980s, students got the idea to make a certain four-letter word on the front of Smith Hall by removing the "m" in "Smith" and rearranging the remaining letters.

One of the most elaborate charades, aside from the George B. Nako ruse in Hamilton Smith Hall (see UNH Magazine Fall '07), was a mockumentary-style candidacy for student body president in 1995. Among the slogans used by Brendan Quigley '96 and his running mate, Adam Voss '96, were "Take Back the Day!" and "We're making the other guys look legitimate." The pair gave goofy interviews to WUNH and "The New Hampshire," but they pulled out all the stops in the final election debate, when they took to the stage accompanied by fake Secret Service agents, complete with black suits, earphones and dart guns. A few questions into the proceedings, the agents screamed "Gun!" and ran onto the stage to cover the two candidates with their bodies.

In the 1990s, some McLaughlin Hall residents enjoyed livening up the admissions office tours that regularly trekked through their building. According to Cathy Donovan '97, they threw rubber snakes, screamed, dressed up in disco clothes and tagged along, asking questions in foreign accents. "The tours didn't stop," she says, "so I'm guessing our antics were somewhat successful in generating new students!"

In retaliation for a prank involving their underwear (don't ask), Dave Klose '81 and Kevin Trask '81 mailed Gretchen Tarbell Lutz '79 and some of her friends a fake letter from the Dean of Students—on official letterhead—announcing their suspension for illegally entering a room and destroying property. "The reaction was way more than we expected," says Klose. "They were devastated." Many tears later, Klose and Trask admitted the letter was a prank. They were not prepared for the fury that followed. "I'm not sure they have forgiven us today!" says Klose.

We have some good news for him. "All is forgiven," says Lutz. "But now that I know how to contact him, he'd better be careful!" ~

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