April Fool’s Day prank causes panic on campus

Nymphadora Tonks

An April Fool’s Day prank gone wrong ended up causing mayhem on USD’s campus.

It started Tuesday morning 7 a.m. when nine students dressed in black and ran to every emergency phone on campus, pressing the button to yell fake crises before running off to the next phone on campus. Public Safety responded and quickly realized that something was wrong when they were not able to locate any of the “victims.” Fearing the worst, they issued a mass text message to the student body urging students to stay in their rooms or leave campus due to a university wide threat to safety.

“We responded immediately, thinking this was a real campus emergency. We utilized the campus-wide text message and put on an emergency notice on the marquee at the main entrance,” said Chief of Public Safety Richard Stevens.

Classes were cancelled and panic ensued as fearful students reacted to the vague threat cited in the text message. Calls clogged the phone lines as worried parents and students, faculty and staff called, trying to get information.

At 8 a.m. a public safety officer saw five figures dressed in black running into Tecolote Canyon. Thinking they had found the perpetrators, the officer called all units to the canyon as well as calling SDPD for backup.

Public Safety surrounded the canyon and caught the “criminals” as SDPD was pulling up. Officials were furious when they realized that a serious problem had turned out to be nothing more than a childish prank. The students were handcuffed and spent two days in jail under felony charges of obstructing public duty and resisting arrest. All but two were caught.

The students were released after USD dropped formal charges, but students are suspended pending their university trial.

“What these students did was deplorable and they will be punished accordingly,” President Emily Schulte said.

“It was just an April Fool’s joke and we didn’t think it would be taken so seriously,” said Maggie Gregorio and Mary Strauss, sophomores who participated in the prank.

While these students wait for their hearing, their fellow classmates have staged a protest, saying the joke was not in any way detrimental to their academic state. In fact, they enjoyed the day off.