First-Years Casualties In Pfoho-Adams War

Adams and Pforzheimer Houses settled their six-day "war" Sunday afternoon, but not before a prank masterminded by the Quadling troops sent scores of first-years to the Adams House dining hall for Sunday brunch.

First-year students awoke Sunday morning to find small flyers slipped under their doors, alerting them that the "late rescheduling of a fundraising lunch" had forced Annenberg Hall to close for brunch.

As a result, the flyers said each first-year dormitory had been reassigned to a particular House's dining hall--which is the standard procedure when Annenberg closes for legitimate purposes.

But prank organizers, coordinated the flyers so that each first-year dormitory thought it was one of the few dorms assigned to eat at Adams, while the rest were thought to be assigned to eat at other Houses.

The result, according to some first-years, was a good deal of confusion at Adams and a large number of people forced to trek back to Annenberg or eat at other River Houses.

Canaday resident Veronica Rivera '03 said she and her roommates had little reason to doubt the authenticity of the five or six copies of the flyer that had been slipped under their suite's door.

She said the group made it all the way to Adams, only to hear that the dining hall checker was turning the throng away.

"We kind of fell for it," she admitted.

The prank was among several the two Houses organized during the "war" that Adams declared on Pforzheimer after some residents in the Quad House proposed a symbolic ban of Adams residents from the dining hall.

Tensions between the two Houses arose early in the semester, when Adams started using stickers on resident ID cards to help enforce its long-standing ban on interhouse dining during peak meal hours.

At the final battle between the two Houses yesterday afternoon in the Quad, Pforzheimer House Committee President Manny A. Garcia '00 confirmed the prank had occurred, but claimed not to know the identity of the perpetrators.

But even in the midst of battle, it appeared that the drastic move had not hurt any feelings.

At one point during a football game between the two Houses, Pforzheimer supporters standing on the sidelines offered a message to their rivals.

"Hey Adams!" they yelled. "How was brunch?"

The nearly immediate response from Adams was executed with grace.

"Very nice, thank you!" the black-clad group responded.