The Driscoll Deviations were a series of pranks performed, unsurprisingly enough, by the Driscoll Deviants, a group of students who felt that dinnertime at Williams needed the occasional bit of lightening up. Most of the Deviations took place between 2002 and 2004. Notable Deviations included Formal Dinner Night, where students arrived in full evening attire and were served by volunteer waitstaff; Wild West Night, which featured water guns, bandanas, atrocious cowboy accents, a sing-along of the theme from "Rawhide," and a pseudo-genuine stringing-up of outlaws; Fairy Tale Night, at which princesses, ogres, fairies, mermaids, and vampires frolicked as children's stories were read; 70's Disco Night, where half of Driscoll got down to the Village People and KC and the Sunshine Gang; Iron Chef, at which two teams of cooks made haste to concoct culinary creations that were sometimes disgusting, sometimes phallic, but always inventive; and, of course, the infamous Odd Takes Dodd night, the only Driscoll Deviation to take place in a dining hall other than Driscoll. Some residents of Dodd swore they'd never forget the moment when an army of pirates, ninjas, and Vikings bearing large duct-tape swords invaded their previously peaceful home.
The Deviants still maintain a listserver which is used to organize entertaining and odd activities on campus, and Driscoll Deviations, though less common than in years past, occur one or two times per semester. Recent deviations include the Thrift Store/Back-of-the-wardrobe deviation on 9/24/2005, and the Gods and Goddesses Deviation in Spring 2005.
The Deviants emerged in 2002 although enjoyed the height of their mischief in 2003. Prior Williams generations of people who enjoyed doing things that were off the beaten path had, until then, associated themselves with WARP and used their listserve as primary means of communication. With the graduation of the class of 2002, in 2003 WARP took on a heavier role playing, duct-tape sword, video gaming identity. Out of a desire to participate in quirky, fun events but not necessarily under the WARP banner, were born the Deviants.
Josh Ain '03 once questioned whether WARP and Deviants, indeed, needed to be separate groups, or at least have separate listservers. In an email he'd sent to both lists, he asked if Deviants was not just, in fact, a subset of WARP. He was, however, within hours of his message so deluged with replies from friendly-indignant non-WARP Deviants that he sent out another email yielding the case. The odd quad soon took on a dual identity as deviants "deviated" from WARP and became accepted by the campus as a group of fun loving students who sometimes wore a toga to dinner.
Other events by the group included Storytime, as read from the balcony window of Currier Ballroom or in the basement, co-ed naked snowball fights, murder mystery parties, landmark Cribbage matches, movie screenings (The Secret of the Sock Monkey, namely), a Bad Poetry Slam, and other dress up events.
With the co-founders having graduated in 2003 and 2004, deviants lives on in the hands of the new generation of Williams students, perhaps waiting to take on a new meaning of its own.