Hall of Shame:JHU

1995

No Pie

Session(s):	1995.1

In those dark days before WiFi and iTunes, music had to exist on physical discs. The DJs forgot to bring Don McLean to the first dance. Long-time students were furious; long-time staff were embarrassed.

2005

Prank Calls

Session(s):	2005.1

At JHU Session 1 2005, there was a doofus who was prank calling Clark AMR 2 dorm at 2:00 a.m., pretending to be the pizza guy, insurance company, et cetera. Two roommates pretended to be KGB operatives to the prank caller(s) and the calls ended.

2006

Cross-Dressing Deemed Offensive

Session(s):	2006.1, 2006.2

At JHU 2006 Session 1 and 2, cross dressing day was canceled by the administration (Edit: AMY) because it was allegedly "offensive" to "real cross-dressers" and homosexuals. A few CTYers attempted to cross dress, but were sent back into their dorms during breakfast to change. Despite the ethics class' attempt to reschedule Cross-dressing Day on a later date through a petition and the administration's supposed consent, no cross dressing day ever took place. This has been called a CTY SIN. As of 2007 additional reasons for banning drag day have been provided. According to the RPA, a father of one of the female CTYers showed up, saw his daughter walking around in boys clothes, got the completely wrong idea and threatened to take her out of the program before someone explained to him what was going on. In addition, parents of male CTYers were none too pleased to see their sons walking around in miniskirts. Unfortunately, due to these few closed minded individuals, this activity has been banned. It seems like the JHU administration is more easily swayed by parental complaints than other sites as many of the evens on this list were inspired by parents.

Alcohol Found in Boys' Dorms

Session(s):	2006.1

At JHU 2006 Session 1, over $1000 worth of empty alcoholic drink bottles were found above the ceiling tiles. The alcohol was apparently left over from previous residents. Although nobody was responsible for this, the dorms were still searched.

(From an 05.2 attendee: I actually saw the bottles when I was hiding someone's shoes in the ceiling. I guess I didn't think much of it because I didn't tell anyone.)

Metro Weekly

Session(s):	2006.1

The Youth+Service girls of JHU 06 Session 1, on one of their many field trips, picked up a free copy of Metro Weekly, Baltimore's GLBT magazine, without the knowledge of instructor Tre. Upon further examination in line for lunch (that you had to wait in forever because of the meal cards), they found a provocative ad for an "All Male, All Nude" gay cowboy calendar.

They proceeded to cut out the pictures and displayed them not-so-discreetly on their lanyards.

No admin confrontation resulted, but cries of disbelief were heard from both their RA and TA, as well as other students.

2007

Additional Study Hall Added

Session(s):	2007.1

At JHU 2007 Session 1, a single parent complained that their child didn't have a full day of class on the last Thursday, so the CTY staff decided to add an additional study hall from 3:15 to 5:15 on the last Thursday in place of activities. They failed to mention this adjustment to the teachers until they had made all their lesson plans, so most classes ended up watching a vaguely class-related movie. This policy carried over to second session as well.

Elliah's update: Oh yes, I remember this. We (crafting the essay C) watched the Princess Bride as our T.A (Leigh, LT for Carlisle kids) just yelled at the admins on the phone. They shortened the dance as well, that's important to note. The dance was only hours, rather than two hours 45 min.

Note: As of 2019, the extra study hall is still in place and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere.

More Alcohol Found in Boys' Dorms

Session(s):	2007.1

At JHU 2007 Session 1, about ten bottles of empty alcoholic drinks were found in the ceiling tiles in one room in Pasha's hall. These drinks were found when it became "cool" to sit on top of your dresser for fun. I had first gotten up on my dresser and promptly hit my head on a ceiling panel and I heard a clinking noise. I pushed up the tile and saw a bottle. I proceeded to remove the tile and about 10 glass bottles fell on top of me and onto the floor. The day when this happened was Pasha's day off, so I collected all the bottles and brought them to Devin, who thought that these were my bottles. After much explaining and all of Pasha and Devin's halls coming to see the bottles, Devin called the SRA. The next day we were told that some people were going to come by and check all the panels in all the rooms in Pasha's hall during our classes, and that some of our stuff may be moved. This incident quickly spread across the JHU campus and became very well known.

No More Sleepovers

Session(s):	2007.2

At JHU 2007 Session 2, sleepovers were banned due to conflicting policies. JHU policy bans moving mattresses, while CTY policy bans students from sleeping on anything but their own mattress. People slept over anyways. It is unclear how many people actually slept over, but it is fairly certain that illegal sleepovers occurred in just about every hall. Only the final Saturday evening were students actually busted by RAs for sleeping-over.

For more information on surviving illegal sleepovers without getting caught, see Illegal sleepover.

Devin's Hall Gets Pwned!

Session(s):	2007.2

Jesse's Hall, Pasha's Hall, Devin's Hall, you know what I'm talking about! Devin's Hall challenged Jesse's Hall to a football game; at stake was a hoard of CTY bills valid for the auction. The losing team, Devin's Hall, refused to pay up.

What followed was all-out pwnage of Devin's Hall during the following Social Time. First came the pieing. Jesse's Hall, the Czak Republic, gathered whipped cream into dozens of styrofoam plates. With the help of a sympathetic Pasha's Hall, RA and SRA approval, warfare commenced in the courtyard outside Devin's Hall, with Pasha and Jesse's fighters springing out from the doors and surrounding the members of Devin's team (who were also there with pies). Devin was hit in the face and stomach, as were many members of his hall. Almost all of the CTYers out for Social Time gathered to watch Devin's humiliation. Pasha and Jesse triumphed, victors over the defeated Devin.

But the war was not yet over. A treaty, mediated by SRA Jim, was drawn up, but Pasha's Hall had one more trick to pull. Pasha and his hall had bought the Mystery Prize #2 at the CTY auction, which turned out to be an extra 30 minutes before lights out. At exactly 10:42 PM, Pasha's Hall, all dressed in black to mimic ninja garb, snuck into neighboring Devin's Hall with a hoard of toilet paper and duct tape. First, one brave member ventured forth to put duct tape over all the peepholes. Then, the TPing commenced; toilet paper was strung all over the doors, doorknobs, walls, and ceilings. Pictures were taken and sent to Devin's Hall the next day, because JHU policy would not allow the evidence to sit overnight. Pasha and his troupe returned to their hall, brimming with the sweet feeling of victory.

2009

Misplaying and/or Lack of Canon

Session(s):	2009.1

All of the Dances at JHU 09.1 were devoid of canon. While American Pie was played at all three, it was nearly botched due to the timing of the slideshow. Between the first and third dance, maybe a minute of Stairway to Heaven was played. The reason for this was because a breakdance song (Apache by the Incredible Bongo Band) went overtime and thus Stairway to Heaven was cut out during the first dance. Pretty much no other Canon songs were played. However, this is not abnormal for Baltimore, as most RAs at 2009 were neither RAs from the previous year (who had all graduated out) nor former CTYers themselves, and thus were unfamiliar with the concept of Canon.

Four Expulsions

Session(s):	2009.2

Four students were expelled from the CTY program for two separate incidents. In the second week, two popular CTY students were excused from the program for writing an offensive note about a fellow CTYer. Their teacher confiscated the note and handed it over to to the Dean. The day following their expulsions, many CTYers wore all black in mourning.

The following expulsions were of two more popular CTY campers during the third week. They were expelled after trying to make a flamethrower using a lighter and a can of AXE Body Spray in a dorm room during a sleepover. They left the site only a day before the session ended. Along with the two campers expelled for the incident, four others, who were also at the sleepover, were put on probation for the last dance. One of the students was toasted by a student at Passionfruit the next morning. It should also be noted that their flamethrower idea led to an unofficial rule made by RA Craig: "Please Please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE DO NOT make flamethrowers, okay?"

2010

Power Outage

Session(s):	2010.1

On the third Tuesday the residents of AMR II (the boys) were woken up at 5:00 am to an unpleasant surprise. Unknown to them at the time, the recent storm had flooded the electrical room, causing the power in both AMR I and AMR II to be turned off. The boys were evacuated to the reading room in AMR I due to the possibility of an electrical fire and told to sleep. Eventually, the boys were taken to Remsen, where they watched part of "The Karate Kid." Later, the boys were given five minutes to go into their dorms and change before class.

The girls were woken up at about 7:00 AM. The lights in AMR I, did not work but that was the only noticeable change the girls experienced. Girls then had to go to breakfast with their halls.

Before class, the site director called everyone onto the Gentle Slope and explained the entire situation. They power in AMR I and AMR II was back when students returned from class before activities

The view of a girl: Actually, we were all woken up pretty early, maybe 5:30, by Tom saying, "Meet your RAs at your poles" and some machine that kept whirring pretty loudly. And of course, boys aren't exactly quiet, especially if they're being evacuated at 5 in the morning. Girls had no power, and limited water as well.

Inception

Session(s):	2010.2

On the first RA Day Away at JHU 10.2, the majority of halls signed up to go see Inception... all at the same movie theater. The result was a severe overcrowding of the screening room, to the point that some girls in Rachel and Kate's halls had to sit in the floor.

Stolen Money

Session(s):	2010.2

Over 180 dollars was stolen from Eric's hall, resulting all his boys to be interrogated for over 5 hours a day and making half the hall miss half the 2nd dance. To this day no one knows who stole the money.

Inapropriate Writing

Session(s):	2010.2

One boy in WRIT.A from Daren's hall wrote a paper with erotic writings for a laugh in the dorm. Somehow, it was found by the dean. The story had been written in the dorm and the boys of WRIT.A as well as REAS were sent to the Dean. Most spent a couple of hours talking to the dean, but some spent over 7, resulting in them missing the first dance. Some were innocent while others were put on strict probation and one student was suspended for a day.

2011

Stolen Salt and Pepper Shakers

Session(s):	2011.1

At the end of the first week of CTY, SRAs Raughley and Molly and site director Bobby called everyone together on the Gentle Slope. They announced that 141 salt and pepper shakers had been stolen from the Fresh Foods Cafe. How the perpetrator managed to do this remains unknown. The sheer number of logistical challenges posed by smuggling such an excessive quantity of salt and pepper shakers out of a crowded cafeteria seemed to point to the possibility that the suspect was not acting alone.

After chuckles from the students and warnings of "It's not funny" from a few RAs (some of whom were struggling to keep from laughing as they said it), they announced that unless the salt and pepper shakers were returned by the next day, they would take away all the remaining shakers from the cafe. They also hinted that some privileges - such as dances or weekend events - could be retracted if the behavior continued, but fortunately for everyone this threat was never realized.

After a painful condiment-free week, salt and pepper shakers started turning up on a few tables. This may have been a result of other camps eating in the cafe, not as a result of returned shakers. The culprit was never found by any members of the administration, and as of the end of 11.1 the fate of the 141 salt and pepper shakers remains a mystery.

Between 11.1 and 11.2, all of the shakers were removed, and 11.2 had to suffer through condiment-free food.

Boys Bathroom Defacing

Session(s):	2011.1

At the same time as the salt and pepper shaker incident, it was found that someone had torn the paper towel dispenser off the wall in the boy's bathroom in the cafeteria. It was also found that people were leaving huge messes on the floors and leaving paper towels everywhere. Due to this, the boy's bathroom in the cafeteria was marked as off-limits for the remainder of the session. If a boy wanted to use the bathroom, they would have to exit the cafeteria and head over to AMR II. At the opening ceremonies for 11.2, students were warned that "bathrooms are a privilege."

Cursing During The Talent Show

Session(s):	2011.1

During the Talent Show of CTY, one popular CTY student was planning to rap on stage. However, due to lack of practice and unfinished rehearsal, he ended up forgetting the lyrics to the first verse. As he rapped, he said "I'll just rap from the 2nd verse." After few seconds of the 2nd verse, he forgot the lyrics again and dropped an F-bomb through the microphone. He was sent off stage immediately. Almost the whole auditorium was still cheering for him even after he was sent off the stage.

Three Expulsions

Session(s):	2011.2

Within the first two days of Session 2 2011 three students were sent home. One of the students was unfairly charged by site director Andrea and Counselor Gabby. This is WAR.

2012

Creeper!

Session(s):	2012.1

One study hall, a creepy old man intimidated students in the boys bathroom by the Creative Nonfiction class. It is alleged he said to one boy "Are you enjoying going to the restroom?" The next day, the rule was that students had to always be accompanied by a teacher or TA to the bathroom and could only go at breaks. This created many awkward situations where the teacher and TA were of the same gender and female TAs or instructors had to accompany boys to the bathroom, and vice versa.

Lack of Talent Show

Session(s):	2012.2

Due to about ten people signing up for the Talent Show weekly activity, the JHU 2012.2 Talent Show was canceled. Instead, Second Sunday became Ultimate Kickback Day, where students could hang out in the dorms or on the Gentle Slope.

Two Expulsions

Two students were expelled for posting CTY-I images on their hallmates' Facebook profile. Another student was unfairly put on probation for being in the same room and not reporting it.

Loss of Canon

Canon this year was extremely limited. Dean Raughley justified this by saying that newer songs were more inclusive. As a result, 13.2's Empress of the Passionfruit and Goddess of BLAMMO are trying to finalize a Canon list that will appease both staff and students.

2013

Pirated Music

Session(s):	2013.2

Strange remixes of songs were played at the second dance due to the DJs using a pirated music site. American Pie was also cut short.

2015

Firegate

The infamous fire alarm.

Session(s):	2015.2

On July 16, Corey's hall was about to go to dinner when the fire alarm went off. Later, the site administrators reported to Corey's hall that their fire alarm was the one that had been pulled. But when it went off, most of the hall was next to the fire alarm so it was probably an accident. Nevertheless, Corey and Cody castigated and threatened the hall. The perpetrator, intentional or otherwise, has not been caught to this day.

American Pie

The speakers at 15.1 were absolutely trash and extremely muffled. Hence when American Pie played, it was barely heard. Many clueless twelve year olds made their own circle, breaking up the big circle and nobody knew when to run in and out. This resulted in everyone sprinting into the middle several times and one girl fell, hitting her head, and was then stepped on. It was so bad that in a hall meeting before the final dance, RAs had to clarify officially when to clap, run and kick.Thankfully, the final American Pie was better.

The Dances of 15.2

Two of the three dances of 15.2 were outside in front of AMRI. The first time was because there was a wedding in the Glass Pav. A few college students came up and joined, which lead to SRA Richard walking furiously over to them. (It was kinda funny.) Also, they put the music on shuffle and American Pie came up about 20 min in. It was quickly shut off. People kept getting confused during American Pie and walking back out at random times.

Everyone hated the dances and the RAs and SRAs promised it wouldn't happen again. It did. The next Friday, RAs informed CTYers that Johns Hopkins had double booked them and they would have the dance outside again. It was as disastrous as the first time. Thankfully, the last dance was in the Glass Pavilion. (I'm pretty sure the nevermores would've been outraged if it wasn't.)

2016

BLAMMO Canceled

Session(s):	2016.1, 2016.2

In 16.1, Baltimoreans were told BLAMMO was cancelled by program manager for ALL sites due to it being too violent and that it caused too many problems. This was met with skepticism by many, and it was soon discovered that BLAMMO was running at all other sites. RAs were quick to respond that BLAMMO that occurred at these sites were illegal. However, a whistleblowing RA soon confirmed to certain students that Blammo was, in fact, only cancelled at the JHU site. The rumor that it was cancelled at all sites was merely meant to pacify the students.

In 16.2, BLAMMO was still cancelled, and protests opposing this decision were held by students all over campus. These protests involved students attaching plastic spoons to their lanyards and/or holding plastic spoons (without actually playing BLAMMO).

Kudos to Noah from Markus's hall as well as Ho Ching from Peter's hall for starting this, with the supposed BLAMMO goddess (Cat Brown) supplying a majority of these spoons.

Average Students

Session(s):	2016.2

During 16.2, there were an exceptional amount of average students. Many of them, unfortunately, coming from Markus' hallway; students included Timothy, William aka Liam aka Will aka Billy aka Bill, and especially Martin. However, none of them could compare to Mario the RA, who was known as "Super Average" by most of the campers.

American Pie PT.2

During 16.2, the excessive number of squirrels at the site led to a misunderstanding and complete mocking of American Pie at three out of the four dances. Kids would run in early, kick with the left foot first, trampling others in the mosh pit (it once got to a point where 15 people where knocked over and stepped on) and people heard squirrels talking about how American Pie was stupid. This led to the RAs thinking about making everyone sit down and listen to the song during the last dance, but thankfully, everyone cleaned up their act.

2018

Spider-Man

During 18.1, a kid whose name will not be revealed would constantly make objectifying statements about women, hit on random girls, and piss everyone off. Eventually, everyone in his class grew to hate him and roast him whenever they could. Known as Spider-Man because his roommate hated him so much he managed to convince Spider-Man that he fed him spiders every night after he went to sleep.

Rain

Session(s):	2018.2

During 18.2, there was way too much rain. During the second week,

• One evening session was moved from 7-9 to 8:00 - 9:30 due to lightning
• Another evening session was released at 10:19 instead of 9:00, again due to lightning. ASTR.A took this as an opportunity to have an impromptu Magic School Bus appreciation session. ASTR.B did the same, but with Starcrash
• The third dance started an hour late and dinner was at 7:00 PM instead of 5:30. This was due to lightning.
  • It was raining before the fourth dance but it wasn't rescheduled
• Dani, Naomi, and Barton from Linguistics sang Dear Evan Hansen songs during the rain delay
• A ceiling tile in a room on the second floor of AMR1 got too wet and fell onto a desk. It pretty much exploded, leaving bits of insulation almost to the door with bigger pieces lying on the desk. The CTYers living in the room had to relocate to friends' rooms for a night.
• The basement of the Glass Pavilion flooded

Less-Than-Optimal Dorms

As mentioned before, a ceiling tile in AMR I fell and exploded, leaving bits of damp insulation and ceiling stuff almost to the door. Even at the end of the session, there was still a hole in the ceiling and a recycling bin under the hole. The occupants of the room had to sleep over in friends' rooms for a night and took a picture of the tile. It was posted to social media after the session ended.

Around 40 bottles of a diverse selection of alcohol were also found in the ceiling of one of the dorms. SRA Cindy lined them all up on top of a closet to take a picture to show her friends, and then had to throw them all away. In the removal process, the room ended up being covered in plaster. It was never vacuumed.

Numerous hairy-looking flat-ish bugs with way too many legs could be found all over the place in AMR I. One of the halls in 18.1 especially had a problem with this because members of the hall often took grilled cheese sandwiches from the FFC for later and just left them in the open air. Isabella L. once chased one all around her room and had to kill another one at a hallmate's request a few days later. A dead beetle was left in the lobby of AMR I Royce for more than two weeks, and a wasp was spotted and then promptly drowned by bug spray in one of the rooms, and allegedly seen in another. Multiple attempts by other creepy crawlies to infiltrate the rooms were busted by CTYers.

Another hall (in AMR II?) had an entire chocolate cake hidden in the ceiling. It is unknown whether or not it attracted many bugs.

A mouse was discovered in the room of a girl in Mikayla's hall in AMR I. The occupants were worried about accidentally getting caught or injured on the mousetraps that were installed in their room after the rodent had been found.

Half of a light cover fell off on the first floor of AMR I Royce. RA Peace called campus security, but nothing was done about it. Even though the girls living in the room were in RA Sarah's hall, when Sarah came into the room, she played with it for a bit and left it there. By the end of the session it still hadn't been fixed.

18.2 Fire Alarm/Ocean Man

There was a student at 18.2 that begged for a song called "Ocean Man" to be played at a dance, so it was played at a less-than-optimal time due to the RA's DJing being forced to do so. It was played between Iris and Mr. Brightside, resulting in a group of students protesting the song by lying on the ground with their feet up in the back of the dance floor. The RA's were also being pressured to play a high-pitched noise sound file, but fortunatly did not. The same student was later sent home for pulling the fire alarm because his RA would not let him go outside one morning.

18.2 Administration Incompetence

18.2 had a lot of problems: most either created by the administration or worsened by them. Students, in particular the Princess of the Blood, were targeted by the Dean of Residential life, and, even more seriously, the administration as a whole failed to deal with an unsafe classroom environment, bullying, and sexual harassment.

One such account of a student facing sexual harassment due to administrative incompetence is detailed on this page.

The Targeting of a Student

The Princess of the Blood had come to the session along with the Empress, intending to spread traditions across Baltimore. Before Drag Day/Gender Bender Day, Nick, the Dean of Residential Life, asked the Princess of the Blood what name she would prefer. She had initially advocated for Drag Day over Gender Bender Day since it was the original name at JHU. Nick also mentioned the name Cross Dress day, but the Princess had only named Drag Day as her preferred name since Cross Dress Day has an implication of a binary gender system and some negative connotations, and the Princess, as well as many RAs and students, wanted to avoid that. Despite this, Nick informed the RAs that the students had preferred Cross Dress Day when asked.

When the hall meeting agenda came out that evening, it referred to this spirit day as Cross Dress Day and used the phrase "opposite gender" multiple times. It also included a section on "Why this spirit day is questionable" which specifically asked who this spirit day was showing solidarity to, claiming that since the administration allowed students to wear whatever they wanted there was no need for the day.

The Princess scheduled a meeting to discuss this with the site director and the DRL (Nick). She was given the excuse that the terms "Cross Dress Day" and "opposite gender" came from even higher up and were universal at CTY, despite telling her the previous day that she had a say and despite other sites not using those terms. The conversation was not productive and preceded Nick singling out the Princess on multiple other occasions.

A few days later, Nick (DRL) saw her and a friend without an RA. She apologized but was later pulled aside during social time to talk to an SRA about the incident while her friend was not talked to or punished in any way for the exact same behavior.

This wouldn't have been so significant on its own, but the targeting was a recurring theme. There was another incident the next week. The Princess was with her hall, filling out evaluations, so there was no RA near the group. She was discussing the difficulty she had had with traditions throughout the session and said, "Next year, at my final Passionfruit speech of my final session, I'm going to end it with 'I love CTY, I love the Passionfruit, and fuck the admin.'" Her hall laughed and agreed with this.

A few seconds later, Nick appeared, asking who had made that comment. The Princess owned up to it and apologized, but Nick said the entire hall would have a conversation with him later.

15 minutes later, the Princess was pulled down to a one-on-one meeting with Nick. The Princess was upset and, given previous events, felt targeted, so she asked Nick if she could have an RA present for the conversation. He said no, claiming the meeting would be short. She requested that the academic counselor be present. He again said no.

He offered to let her talk to the academic counselor after the meeting, and she originally said no. He then told her that she would be meeting with him and the site director the following morning during breakfast (not her whole hall, as he had initially said). It is unclear why it was necessary to pull the Princess down to his office to tell her this, especially since one-on-one meetings are frowned upon by CTY and may be deemed intimidating. RAs are instructed to avoid being alone in a secluded area with a student whenever possible to ensure accountability and safety. It was never explained why Nick refused to adhere to this guideline, even after the Princess had specifically requested that another staff member be present.

The Princess, crying, asked if she could have an RA present for the breakfast meeting, stating that she didn't feel comfortable speaking her mind since she felt targeted. Nick said no, claiming this was not protocol for a disciplinary meeting. It is important to note that for a disciplinary meeting to take place, the reason must be a transgression. Although the Princess had stated an opinion Nick did not like, the only thing she had done that was against CTY rules was to swear.

The Princess asked if she could have the academic counselor present, and Nick responded with "maybe." After this, she spoke to the academic counselor. She explained the situation, and the academic counselor made it clear that she was likely not going to do anything about it. She asked the Princess about her ideas on how to deal with the situation, and the Princess responded by saying that if Nick could not make fair, unbiased decisions about punishments, then perhaps disciplinary decisions should be less subjective so Nick and the other administrators could have a standard to hold themselves to. The academic counselor's response was that although that could work, not all students could have the same punishment as some students have special educational needs. This was not the subject that was brought up and was not directly relevant to the Princess' situation. This meeting was ultimately not productive and the breakfast meeting was still on for the next day.

It began badly, with the Princess stating that she did not feel that it was a safe space for her to express her opinions as Nick was a grown man in a position of power, targeting a 15-year-old. She asked again for an RA to be present, and despite multiple requests, neither an RA nor the academic counselor was present. An SRA was allowed in, but this did not help much, especially since Nick is her direct boss and she was unfamiliar with the situation. The meeting was not productive.

It is not commonplace at CTY for hours to be spent on disciplinary meetings for profanity. This is made far more upsetting by the fact that, at this same time, multiple reports were given to the admin of sexual harassment, bullying, and violent behavior in a classroom, and the administration was claiming that they did not have enough time to deal with them. This targeting of a student was hardly close to the worst of the problems presented by the Baltimore administration in 18.2, and even this was not appropriately dealt with.