Western engineers erect 12-foot horse in Mitchell Hall

Engineering Society condemns Trojan horse prank

The prankers left a signed note indicating the culprits.

A 12-foot Trojan horse allegedly built by Western engineering students appeared in Mitchell Hall on March 26 as an ode to a long-time rivalry.

The incident has been deemed a “prank” by Queen’s Engineering Society (EngSoc), which strongly condemned the incident. A group of Queen’s engineering students deconstructed the trojan horse and cleared out the elements of the prank from Mitchell Hall.

“We don’t condone this kind of behaviour, because any sort of response will require students’ dollars,” EngSoc Vice-President (Student Affairs) Ali Bekheet said in an interview with The Journal.

“It is our belief student dollars are best put into the betterment of our members’ experiences here at Queen’s rather than spending them to retaliate in some sorts of prank.” 

The screws used to build the horse were soldered and greased, impeding a screwdriver from being used in the deconstruction process.

“It did require some time to deconstruct, which is not really the best use of anyone’s time,” Bekheet said.

The horse was decorated with chains and symbols traditionally associated with engineering programs in Canada. Above the horse, the prankers strung together several t-shirts showcasing Waterloo engineering.

“I do realize that there might be a deeper history behind [the symbols used in the prank]. However, there is no symbolism I’m aware of in this case. I believe it was just a prank for the sake of it being a prank,” Bekheet said.

A letter attached to the horse encouraged Queen’s engineering students to continue the prank by bringing the horse to other universities. The letter is signed “with love” by Western “engineering.”

“To light old flames of rivalries, or simply just for fun; Queen’s, don’t let us down, your work is far from done,” the letter attached to the horse read. 

The letter refernces Godiva’s Hymn, a song engineering students learn during their first year in the program. Photo: Sophia Coppolino

Along with the letter were messages taunting Queen’s students. One read: “Bet you want to play polo on this, don’t you?”

Pranks between EngSoc and engineering societies at other schools is not new. Engineers from U of T stole EngSoc’s grease pole in 2015. To Bekheet’s knowledge, there have not been any incidents like this one at Queen’s in the past five years.

“It’s important whenever you’re doing anything to realize that as an engineer, your first responsibility is for public safety,” Bekheet said.

“If you are thinking of doing any sort of prank it’s important to realize that when you’re interacting with other people, you need to be wary of consequences and how it may affect others.”

The Western Engineering Society did not respond to The Journal’s request for comment. 

Tags

EngSoc, prank, Western

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