Both Emory University and Washington University administrators are chalking up this weekend’s incidents to unrefined college humor rather than vandalism.

Washington University’s Assistant to the Chancellor, Steve Givens, and Emory’s Vice President and Deputy to the President, Gary Hauk, have confirmed brief and informal discussions between the two schools about the initiation of a “special rivalry.”

“The proposal for the so-called ‘Department of War’ came up last spring,” Hauk said. “It was proposed by the president-elect, now Student Government Association (SGA) president. His idea was something we felt we wanted to support to try to generate spirit on campus.”

When asked his opinion concerning the Department of War’s “attack” on the University’s campus, Hauk reprimanded Emory students for their lack of creativity rather than the act itself.

“Whenever I’ve tried to talk about pranks or practical jokes with students, I’ve tried to suggest that there are ways to do those [pranks] that are imaginative, creative, intelligent and suggest the high intelligence of college students, rather than merely the low intelligence of pranksters,” Hauk said.

Givens, though less light-hearted than Hauk, expressed a similar opinion of the events.

“We don’t view it as vandalism-it’s prankish,” Givens said. “If they had painted on a wall we don’t normally paint on, that would be something different. This is something we will overlook.”

While Hauk and Givens both viewed the rivalry as a positive addition to campus spirit, they had different thoughts on the “war” terminology that students have used.

“We haven’t heard of anyone around here who is interested in continuing this ‘war.’ We don’t like the whole imagery of war anyway,” Givens said. “War is a little strong.”

Like Givens, Hauk endorsed the idea of beginning a rivalry, but he was unenthusiastic about the SGA’s choice of creating a “Department of War.”

“When [SGA President Amrit Dhir] mentioned that he wanted to call this the Department of War both President Wagner and I tried to deter him from using that nomenclature because we are in the middle of a war,” Hauk said. “Men and women are dying-men and women the same age as many students. It seemed to be in some ways a tactless approach to what could be a fairly spirited and otherwise harmless endeavor.”

Yesterday afternoon, University Police Chief Don Strom said that a police report had not been filed with WUPD regarding the painting of the underpass. However, if a report were to be filed, he noted, those involved could face significant consequences.

“Depending [on] who is involved, there’s a number of options that could be pursued,” Strom said. “If it was someone affiliated with our campus, it could range from the Judicial Administrator to a prosecutor in an off-campus setting. If it was somebody involved from another university setting, we could work a similar process with them.”

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