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Grads Unleashed, Yes-Man Pulls Prank

Photo by Leah Nash

Yes-Man Igor Vamos ’90 pulls prank

Yes-Man Igor Vamos ’90 pulls prank
Photo by Leah Nash

The skirl of the bagpipe heralded the arrival of the graduates at Reed’s 100th annual commencement ceremony in May. The proud seniors were applauded by the faculty and cheered by family and friends as they processed to the tent on the Great Lawn. 

This year, the college granted the Bachelor of Arts to 321 students and the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies to five students. 

Biology was the most popular major, boasting 36 grads, followed by anthro (21), English (21), math (20), and psych (20).  Eight seniors earned interdisciplinary degrees in environmental studies.

The commencement address was delivered by performance artist Igor Vamos ’90 of the media-jamming troupe the Yes Men, who seized the opportunity to pull a classic prank. He proclaimed from the podium that Reed had divested its endowment from fossil fuels. (Not so—see Reed Won't Divest).

The Yes Men are renowned for sophisticated political satire in which they impersonate corporate or government officials and make spectacular declarations, which the real officials must then deny. Even so, Igor’s brazen hoax—accompanied by phony press releases and a counterfeit website—fooled several reporters.

After the ceremony, President John Kroger said: “Vamos is a great guerrilla artist and we were proud to have him return to Reed. We appreciate the robust and far-ranging debate that this prank will continue to spur.”

Igor executed the stunt with the help of Fossil Free Reed, a student group which has been pushing the college to get rid of its fossil-fuel investments. When he’s not stirring up trouble, he’s an associate professor of media arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He was invited to speak at Reed by the graduating class.