How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
CAS sophomore Annie Peck was sitting in her 'Power and Politics in America' lecture at 11 a.m. yesterday when a strange beeping caught the class' attention.
Images
'The kid sitting next to me got up and ran out of the classroom, thinking it was a bomb,' Peck said.
The source of the noise was a beeper, one of many that were planted in different spots across campus, along with letters that were signed, 'The Eucleian Society.'
The note warned students that 'NYU has its secrets, too,' and that 'truth' is to be found 'outside of the classroom.'
These 'wake-up calls' began in classrooms as early as 8:30 a.m.
The Eucleian Society was a secret society founded as a literary group at NYU in 1832, the same year the College of Arts and Science was founded. According to university spokesman John Beckman, the society is 'now defunct,' but the attribution of these disruptions may indicate otherwise.
Beckman said that a banner that hung outside the Silver Center yesterday morning reading 'Fuck Tuition Hikes' was probably not related to the Eucleian Society.
'Its members assembled to discuss literature, engage in readings of poetry and prose, and debate the major issues of the day,' Beckman said in an e-mail. 'So, while resurrecting the name of the Eucleian Society is a charming historical allusion, I feel fairly confident that 'F**k Tuition Hikes' would have fallen short of the Eucleian Society's high rhetorical standards.'
No matter who was responsible, the beepers caused a stir. Shortly after 8:30 a.m., students in an 'Energy and the Environment' lecture in Silver 207 were dismissed a half-hour early.
CAS sophomore Mike Gerali, a student in that lecture, said that it is possible that his professor canceled class because he was simply busy, but also noted that 'the letter could have easily worried him.' Gerali himself was initially worried by the device.
'It freaked me out a little,' he said. 'It was so eerie and mysterious. Nothing like this has happened to me in a class before.'
Peck said she and her professor, Patrick Egan, on the other hand, were amused by the incident.
Stunts attributed to the Eucleian Society in recent years have included spray-painting raven tracks on the ground in Washington Square Park and showering students in Bobst Library with raven feathers and fliers, declaring 'NYU has its secrets, too' - the same line found in yesterday's messages.
' The raven, a symbol that also appeared on yesterday's note, played a strong role in the Eucleian Society, which frequently hosted Edgar Allen Poe as a guest lecturer when he lived near Washington Square Park.
According to CAS dean Matthew Santirocco, the Eucleian Literary Society can be found in the 1938 issue of 'The Violet,' the yearbook of University College at NYU's old University Heights campus in the Bronx, and that it is the oldest organization at NYU.
Santirocco also said the society once held special quarters and records pertaining to the history of the university.
'In the mid-19th century, an alumnus provided funds for the society to award a literary prize annually,' Santirocco said. 'The society also founded literary publications called the 'Medley' and the 'Geyser.' '
According to other yearbooks, their Greek motto was 'aei aristeuein,' meaning 'always to excel.'
Jenn Pelly is a staff writer. E-mail her at university@nyunews.com.
'
