This week in history on April 1, 1982, The Daily Cougar ran its April Fool’s Day edition. The landing of a flying saucer on the roof of Agnes Arnold Auditorium 2 was the front-page story.
According to the article, the spacecraft belonged to an alien named Xylup Chigalarp who ‘just wanted to see how humans live our their daily lives.’
Another article in the issue announced that the Board of Regents had hired Bruce Springsteen as the vice chancellor dean of students for the fall semester.’
The Daily Cougar reported Springsteen decided to leave the E Street Band for UH because ‘everybody needs a place to rest, everybody’s got to have a home.’
The Daily Cougar also reported Springsteen promised each student a ”69 Chevy with a 396, fuelie heads and a hearst on the floor.’
The issue also included a staff editorial about the editorial board’s feelings about milk toast.
‘We didn’t like milk toast at first. But then we found out that Students’ Association likes milk toast, Program Council likes milk toast and the Student Service Fee Planning and Allocation Committee especially likes milk toast. We love milk toast now,’ the editorial said.
The issue included a disclaimer that ‘none of the stories in this edition of The Daily Cougar are true. They simply represent the fevered ramblings of an overworked and underpaid staff’s minds. We hope you will read it in the spirit it which it was intended. The advertising, however, is the real thing. So please patronize them.’
Research by Zaneta Loh
‘
