Two weeks ago, two ice cream cones, one vanilla, one chocolate, were dropped into the center of College President Larry Arnn’s Saga table, splattering him with ice cream.
“The first thing I thought was, oh crap, someone just skyscreamed Dr. Arnn,” said senior Ethan Showler, who was sitting at Arnn’s table. “What do you do?”
Those at the table watched Arnn’s reaction closely: “He hadn’t moved, he didn’t say anything, but he was almost vibrating; there was this visible tension of him being incredibly, incredibly angry and just not moving, keeping it in,” Showler said.
Rumor has it that Arnn had previously said he wanted to be skyscreamed. It was unclear whether that was in jest or not until it actually happened.
“He didn’t like it, we all found out very shortly,” senior Garrett Holt said.
Arnn immediately sent senior David Ahmanson upstairs to find the offenders, but by the time he arrived they had fled the scene. Arnn later came up himself and was seen questioning students present about whether they had seen who had done it.
One student who asked to remain unidentified was approached by Arnn. “He asked, ‘Did you see who coned me?’” the student said. “[Arnn] said ‘You have to tell me if you know who did it.’”
Arnn was also seen talking with security and student workers at the Grewcock Student Union front desk.
Prior to the incident, Arnn and the students at his table had been discussing Aristotle. When the cones hit, the table fell silent; after sending Ahmanson, Arnn backed away from the table, stood, and according to Richert said, “We’ll finish this later.” Then he left.
About 10 minutes later, Arnn returned and resumed the conversation where he had left off.
Skyscreaming, normally a student-to-student joke, has never been pushed beyond just that.
“Students are more or less aware of how inappropriate it is to skyscream faculty, which is why there’s such a big reaction about this: just because it’s simply inappropriate,” Showler said. “The the fact that someone set this precedent, pushing the boundaries way past being respectful is unfortunate.”
“When we’re…with the college president, we normally try to be more respectful,” Richert said. “Who would have the audacity to do this?”
As of print, no culprit has been found. The president’s office declined to comment.
“Hopefully if the administration does take action, it will be appropriate to the level of what actually happened,” Showler said. “I think there should be consequences, even just as preventative measures [so people know] there will be consequences if you do stuff like this.”
