Building pranks turn to kind acts
Campus Times
March 14, 1997
There could not be a better way to bring a community together than some
friendly competition among residence halls. But when unnecessary pranks
caused inconveniences in everyday life with damage being billed to Residential
Life, the line was drawn.
Josh Sherod, the University of La Verne residential housing assistant
Oaks Hall coordinator thought of the idea to have a game called "Battle
of the Buildings." This program was set up to promote a sense of hall
community among the different Oaks buildings and to help residents get to
know one another while becoming a more unified environment.
The different buildings were to compete with each other to see which
building was more competitive gaining points for their building.
Though the Battle of the Buildings started in February, things got out
of hand when some residents pulled pranks that affected everyone in the
community. Therefore, a stop had to be made.
Oaks Area Coordinator Julie Thurman is in charge of the buildings and
it is her duty to supervise the residential assistants and make sure that
all things dealing with the buildings are used respectfully.
"People started pulling pranks, so we called off the Battle of
the Buildings and changed it to Random Acts of Kindness," said Thurman.
"Shower curtains were being pulled off late at night and hid under
the kitchen sink and we had to run around at 7 in the morning looking for
them."
RA of the E-top Oaks building Shelley Millone said that someone climbed
up the top of the buildings and took off the letters that distinguish them.
Other pranks included someone putting bed post bars on other people's
doors and duct taping it to the wall so they could not get out of their
rooms. Also, a sling shot filled with water would splash someone when they
opened the door to their room. It soaked the victim and it disrupted people.
With most of the residents there being upperclassmen and more focused
and active in their school, job and other activities, the buildings are
usually more quiet.
So the Battle of the Buildings has been limited to programmed games
and events.The buildings will continue to compete with each other but now
with Random Acts of Kindness.
The way the point system works is in the Random Acts of Kindness or
a scheduled event or contest, whichever building has the most participants
and wins get so many points. At the end of the semester, the winner will
get a grand prize which has not yet been determined.
One of the buildings left a plate of cookies in another building's lobby
and a plate of brownies was left in another.
"We started this program about a week and a half ago and so far,
it is going pretty good," said Thurman.
There have been comments from both sides about the pranks. "Although
some of the pranks were to the extreme, it has brought the community together,"
said freshman resident Anna Caples.
Wednesday night's event was called Capture the Flag with Whipped Cream.
The building which captured its opponents flag creamed their opponents with
whipped cream. The building that won earned 100 points.
Currently, the C Building is leading in points with 125. In second with
50 points is D Building and A Building trails in third with 25 points. B
Building has no points.