MennoPrank Society Charter

Below is the charter for the MennoPrank Society. To qualify for becoming a member in the future, the stipulations below must be followed.

Printable version of Charter

MennoPrank Society Charter

“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.” Luke 1:52

Given that Mennonites sometimes Take Ourselves Too Seriously and otherwise fail to celebrate the whimsical grace of God, MennoPrank Society was established to bring raucous laughter to the hallowed halls of Mennonite higher education institutions in North America. The purpose of said society is to raise the standard of high jinks in the Anabaptist tradition, explore missional implications of pranksterism in a postmodern society, and affirm outstanding acts of buffoonery with a MennoPrank Award.

 A recipient of the MennoPrank Award shall be a student or employee of a Mennonite institution of higher education in North America who is the prime perpetrator of a prank that:

• happens at a Mennonite institution of higher education in North America;
• humorously brings down the mighty or elevates the lowly;
• generates mirth, not hard feelings;
• has the hallmarks of ingenuity and innovation;
• causes no significant damage to buildings or other property;
• creates no undue amount of work for institutional staff;
• is morally decent and ethical;
• involves no risk of bodily harm to perpetrator or victim;
• targets no one who has already been the victim of an award-winning MennoPrank.

A recipient of said award shall:

• be capriciously selected by the Grand Poobah of MennoPrank Society in consultation with other MennoPrank Society members;
• receive a framed award acknowledging his or her elevated status as a life-time member of the MennoPrank Society;
• be guardian of the coveted one-and-only MennoPrank Holy Grail until such time as a new MennoPrank Award recipient is named;
• do shoulder-tapping and mentoring for a new generation of pranksters;
• learn the secret MennoPrank Society handshake and have voting privileges in the selection of future award recipients;
• receive a monetary award of $1,000,000, to be paid at the rate of one dollar per year for a million years.

MennoPrank Society was founded in 2009 as a stroke of genius in the otherwise lackluster career of J. Nelson Kraybill, prime perpetrator of the pie catapult Prank of the Century at Goshen College in 1974. MennoPrank Society Award recipients and the high jinks they committed are:

2009 Donald Steider Presidential pants-wetting prank at AMBS, May 1, 2009