"Our objective behind the flyers, mousetraps and the one email ... was to create a buzz around campus regarding hamsters," said John Schneider '03, the senior editor of The Hamster. "Essentially, it was a marketing scheme."
The usage of the all-students email list and the impersonation of school officials violated the "acceptable use" guidelines that Amherst students agree to in order to use the email system.
"It's a concern; even if done in jest, sending out mail under someone else's name is a fraud, albeit a jesting fraud," said President Tom Gerety. "I'm a little concerned that we not take it too lightly."
Dean of Students Ben Lieber has spoken with at least one person regarding the improper usage, but no one on The Hamster has been disciplined of yet.
"Don't hold [Andy Kerns] personally accountable for the email; he was just the messenger," said Jonah Ansell '03, who conceived of The Hamster. "Nobody has gotten in trouble with the administration yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone does, but that's all right. I'm not going to deny what we've done-we've put something new out there ... it doesn't matter if the messenger goes down, as long as the message is conveyed."
The message purportedly written by "Dean Shartem," supposedly the dean of student health affairs, was followed by two other all-campus emails, for which the editors of The Hamster do not claim responsibility. The second email came from
the account "Agent of
The final email looked like it had been sent by Lieber, but he denied having sent the message.
"If I had actually sent it, it would have been much funnier," said Lieber.
While all of the messages appeared to be connected to Kerns, The Hamster has only acknowledged responsibility for the first, which feigned an administrative dismissal of the group's posters.
"The other emails were by other kids who probably hacked into it and responded to what we did," said Ansell. "We were not responsible for that at all, but I realize, obviously that not the most ideal things are going to result from what we do."
The second email, which is of unknown origin and was titled "Rebuttal from the President," was signed "Not Tom Gerety" and commented on the Shartem email, in addition to implicating Kerns as the creator of the first email. The final email, titled "Oops," was signed by Lieber and was also of unknown origin.
"To demonstrate the full dangers," the final email stated cryptically. "Ah, the best-laid plans of hamsters and men. And women and sheep. Now to sleep."
According to the College's information technology department, there is no way to prevent such misuses of the email system.
"The whole world's email system is set up so that there is no way to prevent this," said Director of Information Technology Phil Fitz. "It's technologically impossible to prevent people from impersonating someone else."
The publication responsible for at least part of the prank-The Amherst Hamster-is expected to reach its initial circulation of 800 students sometime this week.
"The Hamster-an anagram of Amherst-is ... Amherst from a different viewpoint, Amherst on its head ... The academic excellence that allegedly permeates this campus is trumped by a social pettiness, which pervades all aspects of life," said Ansell. "These campus-wide pranks were the first steps towards an all out questioning of prevailing norms and traditions. The hamster propaganda was not merely a prank. It was a deliberate effort to expose the lack of intellectual playfulness on campus."
The Hamster is aided by faculty advisor and Professor of English Barry O'Connell. "I am happy to support any humorous ventures on this campus," said O'Connell.
The staff members investigated other satire papers such as The Harvard Lampoon for ideas on how to set up the new publication.
"Our motivation for coming up with something like The Hamster is to provide Amherst with a satirical voice," said Schneider. "Most other schools have some sort of satiric journal and we felt that the creation of such a publication here at Amherst would provide intellectual stimulation as well as a comedic outlet for students."
The Hamster, which is currently unsubsidized, will seek funds from the student activities fee next semester in order to go to publication twice a semester in varying formats-possibly including those of a magazine, newspaper or pamphlet. Whatever format it takes on, the publication will focus on a satirical perspective of campus, national and world events.
"Satire, in its highest form, does not merely mock or deride. Instead, it employs humor and wit to criticize human institutions and humanity itself," said Ansell. "It does so with the hope that these conceptions can be reconsidered. It replaces intellectual cautiousness by embracing various issues."
This issue's Hamster, the motto of which is "Taking things with giant grains of salt since 1986," will run eight pages long.
"Post September 11, there is this intellectual cautiousness, we're scared to fully examine the implications of issues. People are afraid to upset the norms because it seen as subversive to what our country represents," said Ansell. "We're saying we need to move past that. We're going to rock the boat a little bit and that's going to offend some people sometimes; but that's good in the end."