Student newspapers nationwide are playing the joker card today, making fools of the unsuspecting and amusing those looking to enjoy a little mischief. The Chronicle has compiled a list of 10 of today’s best pranks from colleges, their student papers, and various other sources of academic interest. The list follows, in no particular order, but certainly there are many more we missed. Readers are invited to post comments pointing them out.
1. The Diamondback Online, the University of Maryland at College Park’s independent student newspaper, published a few prank articles today, including one piece about a new giant mascot.
2. Opening this page of Swarthmore College’s student newspaper, the Daily Gazette, brings up two pranks in one. The article, about some unusual new undergraduates, is only half the fun.
3. The Johns Hopkins University announced today that the institution would be known henceforth as “John Hopkins,” removing that awkward apparent plural given to the name “John.” After all, the Hopkins president Ronald J. Daniel said, “we strongly suspect the extra ‘s’ was a typo in the first place.”
4. If grading Lady Gaga’s English 101 essays appeals to you as a job, then the University of Pittsburgh may, or may not, be the place for you, according to the Pitt News.
5. The Daily Lobo, the independent student newspaper at the University of New Mexico, published a slew of spurious stories today, including one about the college’s supposed name change — same initials, much different name.
6. Never mind the iPad. Linguists and animal lovers will surely rave about Google’s new tool, called Google Translate for Animals (not coming to a foreign-language classroom near you anytime soon).
7. Washington University in St. Louis’s student newspaper, Student Life, features prank stories and eye-rolling headlines about a visit to the campus by Prince Harry and a joint concert by Taylor Swift and Kanye West at the college.
8. Football fans at Santa Clara University may have their dreams crushed if they find out the student newspaper’s front-page story is a hoax. The Santa Clara reported that football was returning to the college.
9. New York University will supposedly hold a “Jersey Shore” conference to explore the scholarly issues surrounding the television show, according to the orgtheory.net blog.
10. George Washington University’s student newspaper, the GW Hatchet, released its April Fool’s issue with multiple prank stories. According to one story, a sharp drop in the overall undergraduate GPA resulted from a recently discovered technological glitch — 500 students who were supposed to have been rejected were actually admitted to the Class of 2013.
