By Samantha Lund, Columnist
If you have logged into Facebook and read the P.L.U Confess page lately, you know all about all the magical things that President Thomas Krise has been up to in his life.
Anonymous posts from students about Krise’s ability to push the world and make children’s dreams come true dominated the Facebook page from Feb. 18-19. Students seemed to either love it or hate it.
According to P.L.U Confess, Krise is responsible for not only the creation of Transformers, but he also seems to be the closest thing we have to a god walking on earth.
One student anonymously posted, “I think the recent surge in President Krise related posts is refreshing! Everyone takes this page way too seriously and this is a perfect way to throw everyone off that train of seriousness. Laugh, be stupid, enjoy it, then go back to posting confessions.”
On the opposing side, another anonymous student commented, “Ok this whole President Krise thing is utterly stupid, knock it off!” But a group of students quickly shut that comment down, rushing to the new trend’s defense.
The new Chuck Norris-like role that Krise has taken on is a great morale booster for Pacific Lutheran University. On campus we do not see too much or hear too much from Krise, which might make us feel disconnected from the man who is looking over campus.
However, once he is turned into a PLU folk-hero, he becomes a part of our daily lives, and he feels closer and more familiar to the students. Having a leader that you not only look up to, but are also familiar with, boosts morale and can be a comforting touch to the community-feel that we have here.
“It’s kind of entertaining,” first-year Ingrid Ericksen said. “I like the posts.”
Putting all seriousness aside, the posts are funny. There have been multiple complaints, posted anonymously by students, about P.L.U Confess being too gross, too sad, not fun and not honest.
The Krise posts are light hearted and funny, and people are bonding over them. For a while, when we were younger, you could begin a conversation joking about Chuck Norris, and you could bond with someone about the jokes. Now, on our campus, people can bond over the P.L.U Confess jokes and have a good laugh.
“I thought some of them were creative and humorous, and most of them were just modified Chuck Norris jokes,” sophomore Scott Hefty said.
Humor can actually make a campus run more smoothly, especially when someone in power is involved. According to Forbes, when humor is introduced into a work area, people are more productive.
When a powerful figure allows, and is involved in, humor in a working environment, people tend to be more comfortable, relaxed and have an easier time accomplishing tasks.
Not only does humor help people accomplish tasks, it also makes people more comfortable asking for help and opening up dialogue about concerns and changes.
“I think that the page is a useful tool for if you need to get something off your chest, however, that does not open the door for criticism towards others and jokes at other people’s expense,” sophomore Robert Layton said. “The page is meant for confessions, not as a center for jokes and drama.”
Even though some students are upset and want real confessions about love, sex, illegal activity and weird personal behaviors, I can not see the brief trend as anything but positive.
Nobody is getting hurt, and Krise is being honored in a weird, but kind of awesome way. Perhaps he saw some of the posts and loves his Lutes even more for it.
