Photo courtesy of a Carter Hall resident
Early Monday morning at 1:19 a.m., two masked men entered the second floor of Carter, offloaded a black garbage bag on Ekklesia, and beat a hasty retreat. Ryan Wood ’28, a resident of Second Central and an eyewitness at the scene, was the first to approach the bag.
“I was studying Hebrew early on a Monday morning and had just gotten done,” Wood recounted, “I picked [the bag] up and felt it … and the feeling of a dead body in a bag is still very fresh in my mind. I was like: ‘it’s a dead animal.’”
After a freshman on Ekklesia awoke some of his hallmates, RA Mac Messer alerted Safety and Security about the dead deer on their hall. A few members of Ekklesia moved the deer into the north stairwell to dispel its odor until it could be properly dealt with.
The next day, after Safety and Security temporarily relocated the deer, some members of Grounds were tasked with its final disposal. Corban Tolle ’28 was one of those who brought the deer to its intended destination.
“We got suited up in our masks and our gloves … and we removed the deer from areas where it may affect students,” Tolle said. “It’s now decomposing under God’s natural sky.”
The actions of these men, who some claim acted on behalf of Catacombs, have been met with various responses. Tolle summarized the immediate reactions of many of those on Ekklesia.
“Everyone wants justice. Some call for a prank in return, some call for punishment for the perpetrators—I just think it’s really nasty,” Tolle expressed.
Wood also finds the prank to be in poor taste: “The prank lacks creativity … I do appreciate a good prank where the person who gets pranked gets a little laugh out of it … this was just shocking.”
Members of Catacombs pushed back against the assumption that this was a sanctioned prank.
“I have no idea who did it, honestly,” Catacombs resident Cooper Watson ’29 said. “I’m actually not really sure if it was Catacombs.” An off-campus student echoed this statement, saying that “[he] was [on Catacombs] Sunday night with the guys, and no one mentioned having any plans."
Regardless of who the perpetrators were, pranks that “include animals, dead or alive” are expressly forbidden by the Residence Hall Manual. Those found in violation “will be held responsible for resolving all negative repercussions of their actions” and are supposed to “clean and restore campus environments to their original state after pranks” irrespective of the innocence of the prank.
Si Mitchell ’17, associate dean of students for residence life, explained that responses to handbook violations depend on the situation. “While there is a list of sanctions, it is often on a case by case basis … which I think, personally, is a strength of our process. A potential … effect is that it can also be confusing to people on the outside.”
While Mitchell was unable to comment on this specific prank, he explained that the goal of the disciplinary process is always the same.
“The goal is always reconciliation and restoration,” Mitchell said. “The goal is to reconcile that person to their community and to restore the harm that has been done … and the sanctions are in line with that.”
Thumbnail photo courtesy of a Carter Hall resident.