Great Moments in Higher Education

I just love this kind of stuff (hat tip Best of the Web Today):

An inspiring story from the pages of the Yale Daily News:

The "Harvard Pep Squad" ran up and down the aisles of Harvard Stadium at The Game [between the Harvard and Yale football teams] Nov. 20. They had megaphones in hand and their faces were painted as they encouraged the crowd to hold up the 1,800 red and white pieces of construction paper they had handed out. It would read "Go Harvard," they said.

But the 20 "Pep Squad" members were actually Yale students. And when the Harvard students, faculty and alumni held up their pieces of paper--over and over again--they spelled out "We Suck" in giant block letters the whole stadium could read.

Yalies Michael Kai and David Aulicino, both of whom are to graduate next year, had to overcome great adversity to realize their dream. They originally planned to do this a year ago, and rather than handing the pages out, they taped them to the seats. "The prank derailed when security guards, trying to clear the stadium out during a pre-game bomb scare, asked Kai, Aulicino and their cohorts to leave."

In the year since, they rethought their plan:

They created a system to have the Harvard crowd pass out the 1,800 cards themselves. The "Harvard Pep Squad" went to each row and handed out a pre-ordered stack of the red and white papers. In five minutes, Kai and Aulicino said, all the papers were passed out.

It took a great deal of planning, however, including a road trip to Boston. Kai and Aulicino attended the Oct. 9 Harvard-Cornell football game in Cambridge, simply to scout out the stadium and count the number of rows.

They also created "Harvard Pep Squad" T-shirts and even fake Harvard IDs. "It was almost sad," says Dylan Davey, another Yalie who joined in the gag. "There were all these grandfather and grandmother types--and they all had big smiles, saying, 'Oh you're so cute, I'm so glad you're doing this.' I felt bad for about two minutes. Then I got over it." Video is available at HarvardSucks.org.

Never let it be said that Ivy Leaguers are a privileged and pampered bunch.