April 1, 2014

We're good at basketball, but are we good at institutional humor?



Is your favorite local institution doing a better job at observing April Fool's Day than mine?

16 comments:

DKWalser said...

That was lame.

Wince said...

April Fools is more about achieving an extreme point on the plausibility-ridiculous continuum than straight-up humor, isn't it?

It seemed rooted in the traditional April Fools but striving for Onion-type irony without the necessary biting satire, lest anybody in campus power be offended.

traditionalguy said...

Apparently they must have already solved most of their congestion by making the African Americans use the back way down behind the Maintenance Buildings.

Mark Nielsen said...

My university has an exciting announcement on their web page today: www.uidaho.edu

rehajm said...

The Econ departments of Harvard and MIT are merging as announced today.

So, no.

mccullough said...

It would be great if humor were one of the attributes colleges and universities looked for in students, faculty, and administrators. But humor aggravates the perpetually aggrieved, so it's more of a liability in institutions.

rhhardin said...

Walk on the grass.

rhhardin said...

One-way signs aren't safety devices. They're traffic efficiency devices.

rhhardin said...

Make April 1 white history day.

Amy said...

I thought that was funny, mildly so, but appropriately, coming from the college administration. I thought the one at the Idaho page (link in Mark Nielsen's comment) was funny too.

Deirdre Mundy said...

You guys gave us The Onion. How can any April Fool's prank top that contribution to modern culture?

MadisonMan said...

The administrators were too smirky in the UW video.

Curious George said...

You're not that good at basketball either.

David said...

My institution sent around a mildly amusing "special edition" of the Friday campus newsletter, designed not to be offensive to anyone.

Then they killed humor dead with this tone-deaf note:

Editor's note: all material included in this special edition is satirical in conjunction with April Fools. These articles are meant to be humorous and should not be assumed as truthful reporting.

Has there ever been a more awkward phrase than "satirical in conjunction with April Fools."

Curious George said...

I thought the reporting from the UW-Madison Whiote Privilege Conference was aan April Fool's joke, but sadly, no. It was real.

One of the moderators actually did say "Being a white person who does anti-racist work is like being an alcoholic. I will never be recovered by my alcoholism, to use the metaphor," Radersma said. "I have to everyday wake up and acknowledge that I am so deeply imbedded with racist thoughts and notions and actions in my body that I have to choose everyday to do anti-racist work and think in an anti-racist way."

Carnifex said...

Curious George with the "and 1". Wichita State is good in basketball (for now). UM is good in basketball (for now). Kansas...man! Has any coach done less with more? Except for Dean Smith of course.

UK has more wins, more appearances, etc. The only thing we lack is total titles, but were coming for yah UCLA. We had it before you, we have it now, and we'll have it when you're gone.