Happy April Fools!

Be on the lookout for shenanigans and skullduggery! The students of Hardin-Simmons have always had a penchant for pranks and tomfoolery. In the past, cows were often found locked in professors’ offices, overnight. One can only guess which gave away the cow’s presence more…the mooing or the smell. 

Pranks have always been a part of HSU culture. There is even a section of the student handbook dedicated to pranks.  

C.V. Wood, Jr. ’41x was a pioneer developer of theme parks who planned the creation of Disneyland and was an avid chili cooker, co-founding the International Chili Society. When a student at HSU from 1937 to 1939, he was a prolific prankster. His pranks included releasing bats during chapel, digging holes on campus large enough for cars to fall in, and more. Read more about his many pranks in the latest Range Rider.

The campus’s current unofficial mascot is a white goose named Gilbert. Gilbert roams freely around the pond. He approaches people without an ounce of fear and is well fed. Empty bread bags are often found in the trashcans around the pond.  

Gilbert’s arrival on campus is the result of a student-led prank. The young, reputable boys of Nix Hall goose-napped our beloved Gilbert from Nelson Pond. The reason? Oh, because one of their friends was deathly afraid of birds.

After driving the bird back to campus, the goose-burglars hid Gilbert in the bathroom for their bird-phobic-friend to find.  

Among the screams, honks, and rustling feathers and shower curtain, Gilbert made an impression on the rest of us. Campus police relocated Gilbert from the Nix third-floor bathroom to the pond in the center of campus. 

Students from McMurry once nabbed Gilbert and brought him to their campus as a cross-town prank. HSU students quickly rescued their feathery friend and brought him home. 

When describing the many pranks in his book, Famous Are Thy Halls, Dr. Rupert Richardson ’12, former president and faculty of HSU, said,

Some undergraduates have little sense of the majesty of the law, and it is easy for college pranks to lap over into the realm of lawlessness. They are disposed to excuse almost any sort of skullduggery as a means to a worthy end.” 

There are countless other pranks in HSU’s history, both documented and undocumented. Do you have pranks to share?