CALL FOR PRANKSTERS

By Dominique Blain

Editor-in-Chief

So I guess RSU remains RSU and RyeSMAC remains a dream.

Indeed, last Wednesday students voted in favour of changing the awkward ‘RyeSAC’ (Ryerson Student Administrative Council) to RSU (Ryerson Students’ Union) against moderate boo-ing from the in-crowd who was seeking a ‘RyeSMAC’ (Ryerson Student Management and Accountability Council).

I’m not going to lie — I was salivating at the premise of being able to use the acronym RyeSMAC in headlines on a weekly basis. The puns just write themselves, really. But the fact of the matter is, RSU is the better name.

Still, it was about time students took a stand, even if it was tongue-in-cheek. But you know what? There isn’t enough tongue-in-cheek on this campus. I am genuinely upset at the lack of pranks on campus. I wasn’t expecting to walk onto the set of Animal House or to run into Van Wilder when I first walked the halls of our hallowed institution.

But damn. Can’t anyone even put a box costume and call themselves SafetyTron3000 anymore? When I was a student at the University of British Columbia, you couldn’t go a day without the engineers barring the architecture students out of their building by constructing a log building around it over night.

And then sloppily painting grammatically incorrect sentences attacking the scientific integrity of architects. Pranks demand originality, ingenuity, daring and intelligence. They build a sense of community through laughter and appreciation.

If those aren’t qualities that should be fostered in this university setting, then we’re in a different kind of trouble altogether. While it has always been the blessing of the engineering student to take up campus pranking, it looks like this job will have to be outsourced to a worthier community. (Engineers, feel free to take that as a dare.)

So out of personal preference I call out to all Image Arts students: I beseech you. Take that creativity and go wild! Just remember the basic rules: 1- We want to laugh together, not at each other. 2- No pain, GREAT gain. 3- The name of the University of Toronto mascot is True Blue and it’s a giant blue beaver. (Seriously.)