WUnderground WashU's Premier (only) Satirical Newspaper Est. 2004
Student Life, the campus publication recently celebrated as “a good reminder of the importance of recycling,” is gearing up to publish its annual “funny issue” in celebration of April Fools’ Day. The issue, known as Student Libel, refers to the act of intentional defamation of someone’s character, which is apparently funny to some people.
As we speak, the writers are hard at work compiling dozens of mundane observations to dress up as real news articles, misconstruing random non-sequiturs for humor, and generally just failing to connect with reality. Once the individual articles are done, the editors will hastily slap everything together under quite possibly the least funny pun in the known universe and send it out in time to be strewn all around the campus and promptly ignored. Then, after that’s all done, they’ll begin working on Student Libel.
“Student Libel is always my favorite issue to write,” Zach Steinberg, junior and writer for StudLife admitted in an interview. “It’s the one issue that when people pick it up and immediately start laughing, there’s a chance they aren’t laughing at you.”
Student Life’s yearly “funny” issue has been a feature for over 20 years, ever since the April 1st, 1995 issue was so embarrassingly bad that students just assumed it was a joke. Since then, the paper’s editors have forced the staff to “pretty much do what they normally do,” according to Cadenza Editor Julia Chen.
“Our writers try so hard to be real journalists but often come up just short,” Chen said. “It’s just nice to give them a break every once in awhile. Plus, it’s just generally easier to make up sources when people don’t expect them to be real, you know?”
Some students like Student Libel, while other students don’t.
“I have strong feelings about this matter, although I know virtually nothing about it,” said John Q. Freshman, “but I’m looking forward to tripping over it on my way to class nonetheless.”
