1,000 crickets released in residence as hockey prank

By Nikki Johnston & Ashley Fletcher, The Xaverian Weekly (St. Francis Xavier University)

ANTIGONISH (CUP) — A residence rivalry at Nova Scotia’s St. Francis Xavier University was drowned out by the sounds of chirping insects, after approximately 1,000 live crickets were emptied into the hallways of a student dormitory as a pre-hockey game prank.

The March 16 prank resulted in at least one student being removed from the residence because of their phobia of insects, and two students being fired as residence executives.

Thompson and Tompkins, one residence, was targeted by their rival Chisholm and Gillis in advance of the university’s residence hockey tournament, the Xavier Cup.

Adam Harris, president of the students’ union, confirmed that one resident of Thompson and Tompkins had to be moved from the residence because of their fear of crickets.

The university’s facilities management placed small sticky pads in each room to try and kill the crickets without moving students out of the building. According to roommates Sarah MacLellan and Heather Johnston, it can take a couple of days for them to die once they become trapped.

At a meeting with university officials the following day, Sheryl MacAualy, president of Chisholm and Gillis, denied having had any advance knowledge of the prank.

The two residences were scheduled to play against each other in a hockey tournament on March 18 as part of the Xavier Cup.

According to the university, the joke may have been taken too far. Until the perpetrators of the prank came forward, they said, there would be no hockey game.

The students’ union wasn’t convinced the game should be stopped.

“We said ‘woah woah woah, hold on here’,” Harris said. “We treated the issue as very serious but hoped this was an isolated event by a small number of students. We wanted them to step forward.”

Late on March 17, four individuals came forward. But Harris and University officials later learned that the residence’s president and vice-president did in fact know about the prank before it happened, contradicting their earlier statements.

“The house leaders had just told us 24 hours before that they weren’t involved, this is why we asked them to resign,” explained Harris.

MacAuley and Aylward said they were told that if they didn’t resign, they would be brought before Student Union Council and impeached.

“Many people in the residence knew [about] and were involved with purchasing the crickets,” Harris said.

“It wasn’t just these four girls that organized it, there were reports that they collected money from the rest of the house and had been planning this.”

Aylward said that because house elections for next year are so soon, there will be no house president for the remainder of the year. Funds amounting to approximately $1,800 in the house bank account have been frozen.

Both residences have also been removed from the Xavier Cup.

The university also imposed undisclosed sanctions on several students, according dean of students Joe MacDonald.

MacDonald added, however, that pranks occur regularly on the campus and, when in good taste, can help promote a healthy campus community.

“Through inter-house cups, intramurals, there have been many healthy rivalries between houses and we support the leadership of students who support these, for the most part they are very healthy,” he said.

Andrea Forbes, the students’ union’s vice-president of student relations, said that bonding activities are being planned for the two residences.