April Fool's Day Pranks Strike

A belated wave of April Fool's Day jokes struck Harvard yesterday.

First-year students woke up yesterday morning to find flyers printed on Harvard letterhead slipped under their doors.

The letters stated that the housing lottery was complete and results could be obtained by calling a given number.

About 90 students dialed the number, but the phones were not ringing off the hook in the Office of the Dean of Students but in The Harvard Crimson business office.

"It is usually a quiet time of the day. Not too many people call at 8:45," said Crimson Business Manager Sameer A. Chishty '93. "But when I came in the phones were ringing, the red lights were blinking...the office was crazy.

The origin of the letters is not known but several campus organizations including The Harvard Independent and Harvard Lampoon categorically denied any connection with the prank.

Chishty said that he fielded as many calls as he could and told Yardlings that the College would deliver the results of the housing lottery today.

But apparently some calls to The Crimson business office were redirected to The Independent and members of the Lampoon.

Stephen G. Lookner '93, the Lampoon Narthex, said he was sitting in his room at around ten yesterday morning when the phone started to ring. After talking to one of the callers, he discovered that the students had received his number from The Crimson business office.

Lookner said he then called Chishty to tell him that the Lampoon was not responsible for the letter. "I'm on the Executive Board and I would have known about it if the Lampoon did it," Lookner said.

"I don't think it's funny," Lookner added. "I think it's stupid, bothering The Harvard Crimson and wasting people's time."

The re-routed calls also caused some problems at The Independent.

"I think it's funny, but it's kind of a pain in the neck," said Independent President Adina R. Astor '93.

Dennis S. Lee '93, publisher for The Independent, said that staff members received over 20 calls and transferred many of them back to The Crimson.

"At first I told them it was the wrong number, then I got really pissed," Lee said.

He started to take down the names and identification numbers of the callers.

"I told some people they were in Currier House," he added.

No Bull

In an unrelated post-April Fool's incident, the A.D. Club's mascot, a bull's head, was stolen from the final club Monday night and left in the lobby of the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC).

The head was found yesterday morning by MAC manager John F. Wentzell.

"I come in and saw its smiling face," Wentzell said.

He added that a note reading "please return me to the A.D. Club" was attached to the head.

The MAC contacted the club, which sent someone to retrieve the head yesterday afternoon.

The head located on the third floor of the club, would probably require more than one person to carry because of its weight, according to a student familiar with the incident.

Nothing else in the club was broken or stolen during the theft--causing A.D. club members to speculate another final club may have been responsible, according to the source.

The bull's head is only the latest in a series of thefts that have struck other final clubs including the Fox, the Owl and the Spee clubs, according to several final club members.