The competition between College of Saskatchewan engineering and rural scholars is mythical, their practical jokes more so. Who can forget the gutted automobile — painted red, with the slogan four Sale — Need $ — Tutoring Walks — hanging off the Broadway Bridge in 2002? College administration postponed pranking last Q4 after a school official complained about a practical joke installed in the rural scholars’ lounge. The suspension gave officers and the engineering and rural student societies a timeout to build new ground rules for university practical jokes. “We desire to be certain this competition we have — and it is a fun contention — is safe,” declared Saskatoon engineering student society president Ian Farthing. The university asked the 2 student societies to pen a group of tenets that rule pranking, often called “morale boosting.”. Future pranks need to be submitted to the campus safety dep., which should note any concerns and sign off on the prank before it’s executed.

Pranking and stunting also has to follow the U of S student behavior code, a document that rules non-academic campus life. This would restrict scholars from consuming alcoholic drinks while committing a practical joke.

The school is condoning instead of condemning pranking to guarantee student safety, announced David Hannah, associate VP of student and enrolment services. “If we ban these things, there is a risk they are going to be driven further underground,” he revealed. “If we were to police a total ban on these activities, they might continue in any case and most likely without the preparations that we think make sense.”.

In the 1990s, that is precisely what occurred with practical jokes, declared Hannah. The threatening, public pranking perhaps came to a close in 2002 when a student society — nobody has ever confessed — hung an auto off the Broadway Bridge. The fire dep. and town engineers spent the day taking down the vehicle, using resources that would have been used more sensibly somewhere else, asserted town officers at the time. Last month in B.C, 5 engineering scholars from the School of Brit Columbia were caught attempting an analogous practical joke and now face legal charges. In 2003, the varsity cancelled E-Plant, a fall custom that pits engineers against rural scholars in a public riot that started with an abduction and climaxed in a fight to save the missing student, who was taped to a steel pole. Just after, participation of kinesiology and commerce student societies decreased away, leaving engineering and rural scholars to resume the collegiate quarrel.