(Source: University of Pennsylvania)Those clever Quakers are at it again. Every year, student journalists at The Daily Pennsylvanian (I was one myself) concoct crazy---but marginally believable---stories for an April Fool's issue. Of course, they never publish the paper on April 1; that would be too obvious. Instead, the issue often appears later in the month, and usually catches some people off guard.



The latest case is no exception. On April 12, students ran the joke issue featuring a lead story suggesting that President Amy Gutmann, on the job for less than a year, had received a vote of no confidence from the faculty. That's a sensitive issue these days because of similar (and real) actions at Harvard. Well, a news service called Academic Impressions picked up the story and sent it to folks who subscribe to its daily headline feed. Shocked by the news, I read the story and realized fairly early on that it was a ruse. Here's what it said:

Less than a year into Amy Gutmann's tenure as Penn president, faculty members have decided they no longer support the University's top administrator.

Faculty from each of Penn's 12 schools voted last night that they "no longer have confidence in the Presidency of Amy Gutmann."

More than 250 faculty members convened in a confidential meeting in College Hall at approximately 8 p.m. Monday evening. Psychology lecturer Andrew Shatte---who submitted the "no-confidence" motion---delivered the results of the vote at 10:30 p.m. from the steps of College Hall. The measure is a formal expression of dissatisfaction and cannot force Gutmann to step down. It passed 157 to 95, with 16 abstentions.

"Gutmann's inability to follow through with her inauguration promises show that she was a poor choice to replace [former President Judith] Rodin," Shatte told a small crowd of protesters, reporters and onlookers last night. "If she has integrity, she will resign."

Gutmann has been plagued by controversy since unveiling the Penn Compact---a three-pronged plan for Penn's future---at her inauguration last fall. Faculty members have publicly criticized Gutmann's vision for the University.

The vote comes only weeks after Harvard faculty members passed a similar "lack of confidence" motion regarding Harvard President Lawrence Summers on March 15. The measure was unprecedented in the Ivy League until Harvard's recent vote.

Gutmann declined to comment on her immediate plans but released a statement last night.

"I stand by the Penn Compact and look forward to a productive dialogue about the University's future," Gutmann said in a statement. "But I can't believe they're doing this to me just after it happened to Larry [Summers]. I'm so much cuter ... and skinnier."Right about then I'd figured out the hoax. Cuter and skinnier? Come on. You'd think the folks at Academic Impressions would have been more careful in vetting this piece, especially because it came from a student-run paper. What's more, the paper's editorial alerts readers to the nature of the issue. Within an hour or so, the news service issued a retraction, admitting it had been duped. I assume it'll be more careful in the future.