2008 Woodie Awards
Students pull prank on GU
Tim Takechi, Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/14/06
Last Updated: 12/26/07
Luther posted the theses for many reasons among them to counter the Roman Catholic Church's doctrine of indulgences. Indulgences were a temporal pardon granted by the church from the punishment of sins already forgiven by God.
In an e-mail addressed to the entire student body early that Thursday morning, Robinson said he felt some of the jokes posted in the "95 Theses" crossed the line.
"First, I admit that I have not read the whole document. Second, I'm a big fan of "clever and fun," but I have seen some items that were quite mean-spirited and some that were just stupid. I don't want to make this bigger than it is, but right now it feels way more hurtful than 'clever'," Robinson said.
Sue Weitz, vice president for student life at Gonzaga University, sent out a campus-wide e-mail to all Gonzaga students with Robinson's letter attached.
Weitz echoed Robinson's confusion and displeasure over the incident.
"The identity and intention of the responsible individuals is not known, but it would appear that this was an attempt at a college prank based on the perceived rivalry of being in the same area," Weitz said in the e-mail. "Some of the statements on the flyer were not respectful to our community."
Kathy Storm, vice president for student life, said Whitworth administration made efforts to assure administrators at Gonzaga that the prank did not reflect the attitude of Whitworth as a whole.
"A number of us spoke with our counterparts on the Gonzaga campus and offered apologies. There was some backlash and hard feelings, at least among GU students, that were beginning to emerge," Storm said.
Tobias said fellow Gonzaga students felt uncertainty over the nature of the prank.
"Overall, [Gonzaga students] were kind of confused. The idea of school rivalry is great, people were confused why some of the jokes crossed the line," Tobias said. "As a Jesuit institution, we strive to cut down the walls between faith backgrounds."
In an e-mail addressed to the entire student body early that Thursday morning, Robinson said he felt some of the jokes posted in the "95 Theses" crossed the line.
"First, I admit that I have not read the whole document. Second, I'm a big fan of "clever and fun," but I have seen some items that were quite mean-spirited and some that were just stupid. I don't want to make this bigger than it is, but right now it feels way more hurtful than 'clever'," Robinson said.
Sue Weitz, vice president for student life at Gonzaga University, sent out a campus-wide e-mail to all Gonzaga students with Robinson's letter attached.
Weitz echoed Robinson's confusion and displeasure over the incident.
"The identity and intention of the responsible individuals is not known, but it would appear that this was an attempt at a college prank based on the perceived rivalry of being in the same area," Weitz said in the e-mail. "Some of the statements on the flyer were not respectful to our community."
Kathy Storm, vice president for student life, said Whitworth administration made efforts to assure administrators at Gonzaga that the prank did not reflect the attitude of Whitworth as a whole.
"A number of us spoke with our counterparts on the Gonzaga campus and offered apologies. There was some backlash and hard feelings, at least among GU students, that were beginning to emerge," Storm said.
Tobias said fellow Gonzaga students felt uncertainty over the nature of the prank.
"Overall, [Gonzaga students] were kind of confused. The idea of school rivalry is great, people were confused why some of the jokes crossed the line," Tobias said. "As a Jesuit institution, we strive to cut down the walls between faith backgrounds."
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