Foolish Phool?

The Harvard Lampoon is conducting its Phools' Week, an annual rite of passage for all would be Poonies.

During the week, undergraduate humorists who have survived the Lampoon's comp must perform a series of pranks before gaining election to the club which periodically publishes parodies.

Several reported incidents this week may have been masterminded by the Lampoon, but there has been no official claim of responsibility.

At least one apparent prank may not have had its intended humorous effect.

When a masked intruder burst into a lecture on Richard Nixon and cried, "Who said crook?", Alan Brinkley, professor of History 1628, "The American Century: 1945 to the Present" expressed his displeasure. After the intruder departed, Brinkley reportedly said, "This is a trend in Harvard life that I do not approve of."

Lampoon President Conan C. O'Brien '85 yesterday denied that the incident had any connection with Phools' Week, saying only, "We've already talked to Brinkley."

In a prank last December during the winter Phools' week, an aspiring Poonster interrupted a lecture by Professor Robert Coles to mock him for several minutes. Lampoon officials later apologized to Coles.

"I was pissed off. I was in the middle of one of the most important lectures of the whole course," Coles said afterwards.

In another possible Lampoon prank, three anonymous phone calls were made to The Crimson's newsroom in rapid succession.

First, a male caller said that a meteor was about to-hit Cambridge. "Really," he added, "I'm at Hilles Observatory," Within seconds, a second caller said, "I am the meteor. I'm going to destroy Harvard." Next, the same voice called and said, "This is Perry White, Where's Olson?"