Who in the Class of 2014 is most likely to have a kinky fetish? This question, among others, was posed in a survey of 17 unofficial class superlatives, sent to 176 Seniors in an e-mail from a sender under the pseudonym “C14ss Troll.” The survey was titled “Better Superlatives.”
The mock survey included superlatives such as “Most Likely to Own Slaves,” “Least Likely to Graduate,” “Wouldn’t Have Survived Public School” and “Hooked-up with the Most Underclassmen.” Less than an hour after the survey was released, Paul Murphy, Dean of Students, alerted the Senior class, the Cluster Deans and Head of School John Palfrey in an e-mail. The survey was taken down by the creator(s) shortly thereafter.
“It’s exactly what you would think of as the opposite of class bonding. People didn’t want to get that from anybody; it wasn’t really funny. It was a little bit threatening at the end… So, it was a bad moment for the Class of 2014,” wrote Murphy.
> [#FreeC14ssTroll](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23FreeC14ssTroll&src=hash) because the original superlatives were offensive enough [#trophywife](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23trophywife&src=hash) [#slytherin](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23slytherin&src=hash) [#commonsmirrors](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23commonsmirrors&src=hash) [#doneandoverforthemost](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23doneandoverforthemost&src=hash)
>
> — Melly Belly (@MelBel823) [September 29, 2013](https://twitter.com/MelBel823/statuses/384169290267496448)
Following the distribution of the mock superlative survey, Stephanie Nekoroski ’14, Co-Editor in Chief of the yearbook, “Pot Pourri,” decided to close voting on the official “Pot Pourri” superlative survey earlier than intended as she felt that the unofficial superlatives compromised the original superlatives’ good intentions.
Although many Seniors demanded to redo the survey, Nekoroski wrote on the PA Seniors 2014 Class Facebook page, “If you want to have superlatives in our yearbook, we are not going to redo the survey. We will be using the results that we currently have, and this will not be an issue anymore. I truly apologize to anyone that is upset that I closed the survey.”
The mock survey also spurred a discussion about the necessity of superlatives at Andover.
“I wondered out loud to [Stephanie] if Superlatives had run their course… bad behavior should never stop us from doing something that’s fun, but I think it’s always a good time to think, in a place like this where everyone is superlative, how can you decide who’s best dressed or who’s the nicest couple?” said Murphy.
> because it was way more funny than it was offensive [#okimdone](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23okimdone&src=hash)
>
> — Melly Belly (@MelBel823) [September 29, 2013](https://twitter.com/MelBel823/statuses/384169822721826817)
The survey elicited mixed reviews from the student body, particularly this year’s Senior class.
“The only negative [side] I could see was that it got concentrated groups of people gossiping. Because it was sent out on a weekend, people had nothing better to do than to talk about who fit each category, but these are topics that come up in conversation all the time anyway,” said Bridget Higgins ’14.
“From the author’s username and the circumstances, the whole thing was clearly a joke. Nobody specifically was put on the list; it was just the superlatives. I, nor any person I know, was personally attacked,” Joe Faller ’14 said.
“Personally, I don’t love superlatives in general. They are just a popularity contest, and they don’t fit in with the Andover ideal. Some people aren’t happy to win that, and it adds a lot of drama, especially during Senior fall,” said Harry Wright ’14.
The Technology Office sent a complaint to SurveyAct, the company that hosted the mock survey, claiming that this particular survey may have violated the website’s terms of service. The Technology Office is currently in talks with SurveyAct to find the identity of the survey’s creator.
Murphy said he tried to contact c14ssyy@gmail.com directly, the account from which the survey was sent. His e-mails were, however, returned to the sender, indicating that the account was either disabled or fake.
The creator(s) of the survey broke Andover’s “terms of decency,” which state that although only specific infractions are noted in the Blue Book, one’s “personal integrity” should steer one in all situations when representing the Phillips Academy community, said Murphy.
As of now, the potential punishment for the perpetrator(s) if caught has yet to be determined.
“You’ve really hurt people within the community for no real purpose…I’m just going to wait and see if we find out who it was and then, as we do in every discipline situation, I have to discuss it with the Deans, see what terms of acceptable use [the action] has violated,” said Murphy.
