April Fool's Day at Andrews
It's healthy to laugh at yourself
On April 1, 2016, the Andrews University website homepage embraced the spirit of April Fool's Day by offering to the pubilc a collection of articles in the form of pranks and hoaxes. The idea behind this mini-campaign is to portray Andrews in a lighthearted manner and demonstrate that we can make fun of ourselves. Andrews University's reputation for serious and rigorous academics and being a frequent thought leader for the global Adventist Church is well-known, but it's only one part of the larger scope that makes coming here special.
For several years there has been a precedent of higher-ed institutions engaging in April Fool's humor. Reputable national marketing and development organizations such as CASE and HigherEdExperts have been publishing lists of top April Fool's pranks on university websites, and have gained a fair amount of traction on social media.
Although this is not a new idea, Andrews is the first among Adventist institutions of higher education to engage with this tradition in a significantly visible way. We hope this will help students and others around the world realize that coming to Andrews can be a whole lot of fun.
Dave's Top Ten
A significant source of inspiration for this idea was the well-established tradition of Dave Faehner, vice president for University Advancement, sharing his now-famous "Top Ten Reasons for Coming to Andrews" list during the annual convocation at the beginning of the school year (enjoy recordings from 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012). His list is an example of clean self-deprecating humor about both Andrews and worldwide happenings, and we thought we'd continue the tradition and share it in the larger context of the website.
Campus Collaboration
Several University employees worked together to create the 2016 April Fool's edition of the homepage. With the endorsement of University administration and ITS personnel, the following is a list of the collaborators on this year's project.
Lathan Bidwell
Ivan Davis
Robert Fusté
Darren Heslop
Maxine Murray
Stephen Payne
Pat Spangler
Becky St. Clair
Ellie Quinoñes-Chuah
Full List of Stories
- Andrews Named Official University of Winter
- New Campus Hoverboard Policy Announced
- Sidewalk Roundabouts Introduced on Campus
- New AndrewsStrong App Announced
- Andrews Named Freshest Breath Campus
- Andrews to Attempt World Record in Stand-Ups
Screenshot of Homepage on April 1, 2016
Click on image to enlarge view
