Carmen Ghia
Resident Voice of Reason

THIS COLLEGE PRANK IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER “T” AND THE STUDENTS AT GEORGIA TECH (SOME OF WHOM COULD POSSIBLY BENEFIT FROM A GOOD FINANCE, ECONOMICS, OR GOOD OLD ETHICS CLASS).

The letter “T” is disappearing from signs all over campus, costing the school more than $100,000 in repairs. Officials at
the school in Atlanta are asking students to just knock it off. Undergraduate President Elle Creel tells Fox 5 Atlanta the tradition of stealing the “T” off Tech Tower began in the 1960s. But this new ritual involves taking a “T” from everything from stadium signs to book return bins in front of the campus library.

Student Katie Simmons says many buildings have been defaced, and a “T” has already been stolen off a new building.

Student leaders recently launched an amnesty program to try and retrieve some of the letters.

College pranks have been a way of life on most campuses, I’m sure, for many decades now. I have heard of statues (usually of the founders) donning underwear, offices of highly authoritative faculty arranged neatly on the student quad lawn, or even the ancient and noble “stealth mission” of stealing the mascot from a rival school.

Usually there are some chuckles, a little wrist slapping, and then things go back to normal. It’s not until pranks start to cost major repair money that more extreme “antiprank”
measures are taken.

And when pranks start to get extremely costly, perhaps it’s time to wise up and realize exactly who’s being effected. That $100,000 in repairs has to come from somewhere
and most likely will end up coming out of tuition fees. So the people who are doing the pranks are the ones who are eventually directly effected by them…or their parents.

I’m sure a class in Finance 101 can explain the whole process to any idiot who needs to understand that senseless, costly pranks are no laughing matter, and come with a price tag.