Hall of Shame:LAN

2000.1 -- "Stairway to Heaven" Cut Short Scandal

Another editor of this page, me, heard my hallmate from Lancaster '05, Henry, that "Stairway to Heaven" got cut off sometime in the past two or three years at Lancaster. Then everybody protested during "American Pie."

There have been rumors that a sit-down occurred at the end of the dance. More rumors say that the sit-down actually worked and the RAs did play "Stairway to Heaven" due to the fact that nobody would leave the dance.

At LAN.00.1, Stairway was canceled at TWO dances, once for "bad behavior" ie running too fast during End of the World, etc. and once because of time constraints. LAN.00.1 became notorious for the frequent cancellations of various canon songs.

Similarly, at Siena, several songs were cut short; an entire-site sit-down led to an extension of the dance and replaying of several songs. This, however, is in the Hall of Fame:LOU, because it happened only once, and the massive protest that it led to.

2004.1 -- Security Guard Incident

At Lancaster 2004 Session 1, a male Franklin and Marshall security guard handcuffed a male CTYer and gave the key to two female CTYers nearby, instructing them to "help him out" while he watched. The incident could have been just the joke of a bored campus staff worker, or it could have been a totally creepy sketchy act of pedophilia. Although it will never be known for sure, the RAs asked the girls for their side of the story and a hall meeting announcement was made for CTYers to "avoid talking to any Franklin and Marshall staff".

2006.1 -- Hand-holding Ban

At Lancaster Session 1 '06, there was a horrible new PDA rule instated where no one was allowed to hold hands. This was immediately followed by several other strict rules, such as no linking arms. Soon, you could get in trouble for just a hug. After a 42-person stummy lay occured, stummy lays were banned. Everyone was miserable. It escalated to the point where people were bursting into tears and going to the counselors to complain. Many people complained of feeling that they weren't allowed to be affectionate towards friends. Students were getting yelled at for minor transgressions such as hugging, touching each other's hair and, in one case, sitting too close. Through the efforts of Molly Brean, Aliza Alperin-Sheriff and Dana Reback, and after several parents complained, the administration saw the error of their ways and the new PDA rules were repealed. There was much rejoicing and blatant hand-holding all over the quad.

Note: Don't forget the hand-condoms. Rubber gloves were handed out by Caroline, a girl in Molly's hall, as a protest/joke. "Use protection when you hold hands!"

2006.1 -- Fourth Thomas Break-ins

Unusually for CTY, the residents of the Fourth Thomas (North Side) hall of Adam Roush were the victims of repeated acts of vandalism. Beginning at the end of the first week, one, then several cell phones disappeared, followed by a lime green ipod Mini. Then, starting on the second weekend, unlocked rooms were entered and detergent, and in one case, soda, was poured on the floors, shoes, and papers. It was during one of these visits that a lanyard was stolen; thankfully, this unfortunate student had a roommate who was able to let him into their room. Other "pranks" included a hard-boiled egg hidden in the bathroom radiator, and a student's deodorant being placed in the microwave for three minutes. This latter incident created a rather unpleasant odor.

After a few residents of the hall noticed that there was a cell phone in the air conditioner of one of the suites, a visit by a tool-armed site director led to the return of the mostly-functional (albeit waterlogged)cell phones and ipod. While the SRA's were touring the hall, one of the showers was obviously on. It was only after they left that it was realized (by Chris Geissler) that no one had come out. He waded into the nearly-overflowing showers, turned them off, and removed to cardboard box and pair of shorts (never claimed) which were blocking the drain. Finally, on the last day, a small quantity of detergent was found in one of the suites, and $170 belonging to one student was ripped into small, later reassembled, pieces. The culprit(s), to the best of this section's author's knowledge, was/were never found.

2006.2 -- Fatal Lanyard Swinging

At Lancaster 06.2 during Acting Improv during the game World's Worst (for World's Worst Raver) Marieke Williams entered the center of the circle, swinging her lanyard (jokingly), but hit herself on the forehead with her key, making her bleed. The irony of the situation was not lost on the crowd.

2006.2 -- String Raving Ban

In Lancaster 06.2, the night of Second Saturday, the story of the administration banning string raving flew through campus.

Left shoe protests were planned for James Brown Is Dead, because it was planned for playing that night. But then, Rachel (who along with Christ had talent show rehearsals) told Alexa to prepare a trip to the site director, and along with some other students, to ask why it was banned and see if they could work something out. Their reasoning was "because we dont allow lanyard swinging and that is much like it." They simply decided it "wasn't safe." (The site director creatively suggested that the glowsticks reminded her of nunchucks.) Rumors spread that the command had been handed down from Johns Hopkins (a JHU observer had noticed the string raving and had reported it as being "dangerous" to the top officials). They made a compromise, during the designated raving songs (James Brown Is Dead, Everytime We Touch, Heaven, ect.), students would be allowed to rave on the hardtop; however, non-raving students could not set foot in the area. Stupidly enough, James Brown was played while it was still light out. At the next dance, a "raving section" was created for those who wanted to practice before the designated songs. Still, no circles were allowed. The site director mentioned that the new method of "controlling" string raving had been a success and that it will most likely continue. However, since the site director changes every year, no-one knows what will happen next year.

NOTE: Glowstringing has been banned in Skidmore since 04.1 when an RA was hit with a glowstick, although the Emperor of 06.2 glowstringed anyway during the talent show and the last dance along with Edison Huff. Glowstringing was reallowed during 07.1 at Skidmore likely due to new administration. Also, a historical fact: As glowstringing was also allowed during SAR.08.2, for the first time in CTY history, Brian Smiley TRIPLE glowstringed (strang?) during Sandstorm, with three glowsticks tied to each string, which turned out to be epic, and is expected to continue at SAR.09.2, even though Brian Smiley is a Forevermore. His brother Eric is a Onemore, although he may not attend this year.

Note: The rules instated at the Lancaster 06.2 session for string raving were not reinstated at the 07.1 Lancaster session.

Note: In years past (2001-2004 at least, perhaps earlier) string-raving was seriously limited. Students were only alowed to string-rave in a roped-off box off to one side of the arches. No doubt, this would have prevented the ban, but it lapsed during a change in admin.

2006.2 -- Losing the Duck

Before lunch of the day after the Duck was passed down, Jeff Sachs seemed unable to find the duck in his classroom. He had seemingly lost a part of Lancaster tradition. Looking everywhere, he failed to find the duck (he even looked in the trash can!), and was chastised heavily. During the next class session, however, Jeff found the duck exactly 13 inches from where he was sitting in class, on the overhead projector cart. Jeff was forgiven, but ruthlessly mocked.

2007.1 -- The Mantastik 3

The Mantastiks, named for their large muscles and manly-air of going about things, quickly formed into an intimidating group. They would not have been hall-of-shame worthy, had it not been for their actions leading up to the ban on the third floor atlee/dubbs lounge (the best one by far, with the coke and retro designs). They displayed CTYI PDA in the lounges on coutless occasions, even after being told to stop multiple times by Adam. The straw that broke the camel's back was when they took their girls (the asian posse) across from atlee/dubbs 3rd to klien/kunkel 3rd and then getting caught by Frank Wang. Their actions led to an unhappy pack of atlee/dubb-ers who could no longer enjoy the 50's themed lounge and, more importantly, the soda machine.

Within two days, however, all co-ed lounges were closed down. The shutting down of the other co-ed lounges was the fault of a few other un-named persons who were in the Schnader lounge. Also because the lounges were being broken (furniture) and trashed.

2007.1 -- Klein 1

There have probably been many halls that have defied and broken the rules of CTY before, but none greater than the residents of Klein 1. The 11 students of Klein 1 paid no regard to the lights out rule (but then again, who did?). Unfortunately, they got caught thumbing their proverbial collective nose. One night, after many warnings and talks about going to bed after lights out, Klein One decided to keep their lights on and talk until the wee hours of morning. Unfortunately, that day, SRA Lucien was patrolling Klein One and what he saw disgusted him. Not one room had their light off and one room even had their door open with the light on. One student was playing obnoxiously loud on his guitar. Lucien was horrified and disgusted at Klein 1's disregard for CTY rules. As punishment, Lucien decided to ban the 11 students from Turkey Hill runs and Monday quad time. They could make up their lost privileges by doing 25 good deeds for the CTY community.

The next couple of weeks were brutal for the "Kleiners." Everywhere they went, they would hold doors open for other students (sometimes for more than an hour in the cafeteria). They picked up trash and litter all around campus and volunteered to help with other peoples' laundry. A week later, Klein 1 gained their Turkey Hill runs and quad time back.

Unfortunately, they did not learn their lesson. Four students of the hall decided to sneak a sleepover in one of their rooms. Stupidly, they left their light on and created tons of noise throughout the hall. Again, Lucien happened to be patrolling and caught the four students. The four students were permanently banned from Turkey Hill and Monday quad time and also had to write a letter of apology.

Things only got worse for the hall. One day during the second week of the session, everyone in the hall except for 2 students completely forgot about their evening study hall session. They arrived to their meeting spot 5 minutes too late and all of them ended up being sent to Thomas. From there, they all got heavily punished by the SRAs and camp director. Their consequences: permanent ban from Turkey Hill and quad time.

Klein One is also responsible for the creation of the hall swear box. The hall had such a severe profanity problem that their RA took away quad time for every profane word said. In the end, almost 30 minutes of quad time were taken off. The hall ended up receiving speeches on why not to use profanity and derogatory slang (due to the excessive use of the word "gay").

There were also many individual cases involving the hall. One involved the drawing of a penis in someone's chem textbook, resulting in a heavy talk with the academic adviser. Another incident occurred the day before the 4th dance, when one student of the hall snuck out of his room to another hall, only to be caught by Lucien again. The student was banned from going to the upcoming dance and put on probation.

At the end of the session, only one student from the hall was fully capable of going to Turkey Hill on the last day.

2009.1 -- Dance Panic

During the last two dances, which were both in the ASFC, the lights were turned on and everyone told to sit against the wall and be quiet. On the first and longer of these instances, a student had fainted and had to be taken to the hospital. The normally healthy students had not been told what had happened, and rumors spread through the crowd as to what it had been. The crowd was sitting for about 15 minutes before the dance continued, and Bizarre Love Triangle was skipped due to time constraint. Following the dance, the Afterdance was cancelled by the staff following an announcement that it would be conducted in the ASFC following American Pie due to an ongoing lightning storm. Amidst the chaos, an impromptu Afterdance was held as students walked back to their dorms. However, because the conductors of each individual song were split following their exit of the ASFC, there ended up being two Afterdances. One was held upon the bridge and the other on the path beneath it.

During the last dance, Bizarre Love Triangle was interrupted by the lights turning on and everyone being told to sit against the wall. All male RAs were then told to go to another basketball court, stand in line, and be visible to their students. All male students then had to report to their RAs for a head check. (It was said later that someone had seen what looked like a male student getting into a car.) It turned out to be a false alarm, but it sent much panic through the girls, who were not told what was going on. This only lasted about ten minutes, and BLT was continued afterwards. No other Canon was skipped.