Campus fooled by story

This archived article was written by: Karli Morris

Following the publishing of the Eagle’s April Fool’s story about statues being built of Chancellor Joe Peterson, Coach Dave Paur, Editor-in-Chief KC Smurthwaite, and Associate Vice Chancellor for Liberal Arts Scott Henrie.

The USU Eastern campus was filled with the emotions of anger, for those who failed to read the end of the article explaining that it was an April Fool’s joke, to laughter from those who read the entire article.

April Fool’s Day is celebrated throughout the world, but is not considered a holiday of observance. On the USU Eastern campus it was observed through the reactions of students and staff members as they shared their reactions to The Eagle’s April Fool’s joke. “I was definitely shocked. I mean, KC does stuff for the school, but not enough to get a statue,” said Aubrey Jones.

Jan Thornton, director of student success, commented, “I laughed so hard. It was great.”

Incoming EUSA Vice President of Activities, Beth Liddell said, “I thought it was funny. When I saw that KC was getting a statue, I was angry. My first thought was ‘Are you kidding me?’ I think I read it three times before seeing that it was a joke.”

SUN Center Director, Terry Johnson, was in on the joke before it was published and quoted in the story as being pro-statue.

“I thought it was a neat idea and a way to see how many people actually read through an entire article and to see that journalists even in a professional atmosphere can have a sense of humor.”

Dominique Lawrence was quite upset about the statues before learning it was a joke and said, “Why the hell is KC getting a statue? I love him but Coach Paur has been here forever. KC should have to wait until he has at least one gray hair. Coach Paur should get one though.”

“Well my first year here we did a few April Fool’s jokes in The Eagle so why not continue the tradition? I had a student honestly get extremely upset at me. My only reply was “read the article to find out why.” It was fantastic.

The article was done for humor and to see how many people read our articles. About 2/3 of the students read it and understood it,” stated Smurthwaite.