From: art@wvus.org (Art Nicolaysen)
Subject: Re: Vacation Time!
Organization: World Vision U.S.
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 10:36:31 GMT
Summary: student pranks at Caltech
Keywords: Ditch Day, vanishing room

(bill nelson) writes:
> (David LeCompte) writes:
>: (bill nelson) writes:
>: >egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy) writes:
>: >: 
>: >: There is a story from Caltech about a student who left for the week
>: >: to visit his girlfriend.  His friends got a lot of plaster, and made
>: >: his dorm room door vanish; they even installed some wiring, and put
>: >: a lamp where the door was.  When their friend returned to find
>: >: the wall, they denied knowing who he was, as sort of existentialist
>: >: prank.
>: >

As one who has hung out with Caltech pranksters, the "walling up the
room" prank is well known out here, and is documented in _Legends of
Caltech_.  Sorry, but I don't believe the book is nationally
available.   

A similar stunt was carried out to get back at a particularly grouchy
and unfriendly-towards-undergrads staffer.  The perpetrators located her
parking space, and made it disappear by repainting all the white lines
in the 10-car lot.  Not a pleasant thing to come back to on a Monday
morning!

>: >I heard this story way back in the 60s - about MIT students. I wonder
>: >which story came first?
>: 
>: Um, as an MIT student, and having heard about many such "Hacks" (the
>: local name for such inventive time sinks) I *believe* that I would
>: have heard about this happening at MIT, had it really happened here. I
>: believe that I have heard about it happening at CalTech.
>: 
>: Likelihood that it happened at Caltech: Fair to Low
>: Likelihood that it happened at MIT:	Low to Snuff
>
>This was supposedly during a yearly, "underclassmen get even with the
>upperclassmen" day type of thing. I do not recall all the details. You
>might be able to find more information in your library.
>
>: 		-Dave "not really an authority"  LeCompte
>

There is an annual "Ditch Day" held in late May, but the object is for
the frosh to solve elaborate puzzles left for them by the upper
classes.  These puzzles/obstacles/degrading feats are known as "stacks", 
after the ***old*** practice of stacking furniture against the door to 
keep the frosh out of one's room during Ditch Day.

The revenge aspect only enters in if an upperclassman is caught on campus
after 9am; the offender is punished by being tied to a tree for the whole day.

Every 3 years or so, the local papers rediscover Ditch Day and run an
article; has anybody seen these published outside of Southern California??


>I have no idea if such a thing ever happened. It is such an obvious prank
>that it would be surprising if someone didn't try it. Doing a good job is
>another thing.

-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------
  "Always do right.  You will gratify    | Art Nicolaysen    art@wvus.org
   some people, and astonish the rest" 	 |
  		     Mark Twain		 | (somewhere in los angeles county)
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