Pranks: A Relived Nightmare!!

 by Kathleen Benzaquin (founding Head of Residential Life)

Being the person in charge of discipline, at least before it got sent up to Dean Collins, was truly a job I did not relish.  I appreciated most of the pranks for their creativity and the need to blow off some steam.  Not easy living 24/7 in what was then a high visibility school. Always reporters and distinguished visitors around with the pressure to behave and act appropriately.  I felt as much on display as the students felt some days.  But we were "pioneers" at every level hoping to make this crazy new idea a real success.  It seemed worth the risk, and pranks were just a natural part of our growing pains.

The only prank I ever felt really angry about was when some juniors during the 1981-82 year brought a bow and arrows on campus and were shooting them from their dorm room into an area under construction.  The possibility of something tragic happening was so great; you can see from other entries how often students went into off-limits areas, that it really freaked me out.  Fortunately no one was hurt.  But that "prank" was not a funny one by any means.

 I enjoy reading the student perspectives on this and the other topics.  Being at NCSSM and part of the original team is the highlight of my career.   Good times, crazy times!

Pranks, Pranks, Pranks

by Grace Han Cunningham

Each of our years on campus was a lengthy and semi-epic how-to book of camp and dorm pranks. Yes to all the usual indoor dorm pranks -- Kool-Aid powder in showerheads, short sheeting beds, propping cups of water and ice on half opened doors, blowing baby powder under doors with a hair dryer, 'canning' a doorway; and periodically items from other parts of campus would find their way into dorm hallways and rooms. Senior year, tying up Robert Lee to whatever stationery object readily available became a thing. I was never sure *exactly* what he had done to deserve this fate -- he was taped to several columns, desk chairs, etc. during our senior year -- but I have a good guess. 

Yes to all the outdoor pranks - swiping underwear and bras and running them up the flagpole out front, rolling Dean Collin's VW bug into the main elevators at the Bryan Center, tossing Dr. Miller into the pool, and skipping school on senior skip day. I'm told Ross Baker was livid about it because she had a special guest speaker lined up that particular day. I suppose now it's all gone official. 

There were rules to pranking and a hierarchy. Rule #1 was you don't prank your roommate because, duh, you had to live with the outcome. Roomies would work together to perpetrate pranks on other roomies, members of the hall, members of the opposite sex, RAs, and of course, faculty.  Off-limits areas were always a pinnacle prank. 

We had a great bond with all of the faculty, Drs. Clarke and Miller were favorite targets - here's a motley crew dressed up as tribute to Dr. Clarke. 

I took a lot of photos both years, as the yearbook assistant-editor, and then editor; I remember what fun it was to develop all those rolls of film in Joe Liles' darkroom, and the magic of seeing the prints develop in the solution trays. I wish I had saved some of the negatives -- I know there were more photos of pranks that never made it into the yearbook. 

The juniors proved to be quick on the uptake and eager to assume the burden of Good Pranks -- Fred Did It become their riff on Kilroy Was Here.

But smart kids are creative and we managed to have way too much time on our hands and helped ourselves to access to parts of the campus, including classrooms and laboratories. Senior year, First Hill  (then a men's dorm) and First Beall (had become a women's dorm) had a fairly entertaining prank war going on. The back and forth went on for a while, to the dismay of the RAs and delight of the rest of the respective dorms.

Then finally came a prank that broke the administration's back and led to the banning of several members of First Hill from further social, on-campus activities, including Senior Prom -- the "Butyric Acid Incident" of 1982. I have no idea how said members of First Hill had gotten their hands on some butyric acid, but it is a nasty substance -- a liquid form of fatty acid that gives off the most horrific stench of vomit, sweat, sour milk, and other vile bodily fluids. Not much goes a long way.  My dorm room reeked of it; the hall reeked of it; our RA was in an absolute panic over it. My roomie Michelle Zimmer and I spent an entire day cleaning out everything -- every surface -- washing all of our clothes and bedding, and still the stench persisted.  A small amount had been applied to the backside and side of one of our bunk bed/closet combos (perhaps thru the window?)  After two days we finally removed all of the acid and the smell died down to where we could actually sleep in the room again. 

Admin was Not Pleased and certain members were banned from Prom, May 22, 1982. Instead they decided to do some fundraising and host their own event off campus earlier in the month. It was a really good thing we had all been accepted to prestigious universities and colleges by then as I'm sure admin was quite done with us. But everyone participated in Senior Skip Day, one of the last pranks of the year.

No one was quite ready to leave yet when graduation rolled around. A sense that the epic adventure was over, that the band of merry pranksters was disbanding for an unknown future, and that our two year quest was at an end.  

Throwing Miller in the Pool

by Lois Thornburg

It was the end of our junior year.  A plan had long been discussed to throw Dr. Miller in the pool, because we all loved him so much I guess, and today was the day. I was to bring him to where many of our classmates were gathering, on the lawn beside Hill House. 

I sat down with Miller at lunch in the cafeteria and wheedled him to go back to his office to show me what my final grade was, proffering some excuse about why I had to have it. I’m not sure he ever believed me, but he agreed to go. We walked out the basement doors, up the asphalt slope of the parking lot, crossed the street, and lo and behold, it looked like what Miller would later describe as some photogenic idyll of milling students right out of a teen movie.

As we climbed the steps to the side door of Hill, the crowd descended, picking up Miller and carrying him toward the pool. They started removing his watch, shoes, belt, and wallet as they rounded the back of Hill and got ready for launch. 

Then Beverly Robinson caught  Miller in air with her camera (see below) as Eugene, Doug, Johnny, Polly, and April, with some assists, heaved Miller in the water.  

I remember Drs. Wilson and Baker and some others staring aghast out the windows of basement Hill. For the rest of us, including Miller I think, it was great fun.

A priceless photo capturing instructor Jon Miller midair, as he is unceremoniously dumped into the pool beside Hill House.  

Left to Right: Robert, Alex, Lois (the author), Eugene, Jon Miller, April, Johnny, Doug, Polly, Tim.

[credit Beverly Robinson.  Page 67, 1981 NCSSM Odyssey yearbook, NCdigital.org website]

Miller knew he was due soon at a faculty and administrators’ meeting and so headed straight there, sopping wet.  The yearbook photo (below) captures him, hands outstretched, as he explains, “I’ve been thrown in the pool.” He still had to go home, change, and come back. 

Dr. Jon Miller explaining the situation to Dean Cecily Selby and Rosemary Oates, as the students (Polly, Ginger, and Ami) try to contain their glee in the doorway.  [Page 44, NCSSM Odyssey, NCdigital.org]

First Annual NCSSM Senior Skip Day 1982

First Annual NCSSM Senior Skip Day 1982

by Shelley Lineberger Hitt

A few years ago, I received an email from my daughter’s school notifying me of the carefully scheduled, administration-orchestrated “Senior Skip Day.” Huh? That doesn’t seem right, I thought. Doesn’t that sort of miss the point? And these kids don’t even live at school, so skipping would mean just not showing up… big deal. 

Not so simple or risk-free for the intrepid NCSSM class of 1982! In place of the well-worn path of tradition most high school seniors tread, we were offered the opportunity and challenge of creating our own traditions. Given we were generally considered the “good kids,” this usually meant establishing our student government, our own clubs and sports teams – generally working to “exceed expectations” and make everyone proud.

But in the spring of 1982, a little rebellious streak began to grow. It started out with some quiet rumblings… we need to have a senior skip day. Shhh… keep it quiet. Could we make it work? How to get off campus, what to do, where to go? And of most concern – would we get in trouble? We knew the powers-that-be had a lot riding of the success of NCSSM, so the consensus soon focused on critical mass… if we could get enough of the class to participate in the Skip Day project, what could admin do to us? We calculated that the grown-ups weren’t going to risk ruining graduation, or tarnishing the records of most of the class since we were essentially the report card for their own professional experiment. So, momentum grew for our mini-mutiny.

Given the majority of us were rule-followers, it was no small sales job to convince our classmates to not only skip class, but flagrantly disregard the off-campus sign-out procedures. But nerds or not, we were still teenagers, and the Skip Day idea started to take form. Strategies for leaving campus… in small groups on low-visibility sides of the block. Meet in Duke Gardens. Bring water, snacks, towels and games for a long, warm spring day of fun. Someone brought a boom box for music. Ultimate frisbee, games of catch and a little sun bathing. 

A few classmates had to take an exam in the morning, but joined us a little later. Not sure how that worked logistically but it seems the admin were playing along nicely.

As the day wound down, we had the presence of mind to capture the moment. Forty plus years have blurred my specific memories of the day, but my clearest memory is gathering everyone together for the First Annual Skip Day group photo on the rocks in Duke Gardens. I treasure this photo more than any picture I have from those years (even though I turned around when the shutter clicked… what did you say Eric?). That photo embodies the unity of our class, the love we have for each other, and the rare opportunity to enjoy a whole day together without stress or structure. Ahh, what a great day it was.

A photo of the class of 1982 on Senior Skip Day, on the Rock Garden, behind the Fish Pool, at Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

(NCSSM Photograph Collection.  NCSSM Digital Collection.)

A second photo of the class of 1982 on Senior Skip Day.

-courtesy of Shelley Lineberger Hitt.  

(Also found on page 6 of the June 11, 1982 edition of The Stentorian, Vol. 1, No. 5)