Fred’s University Psychology Department has been working on a set of educational videos to train students in basic emotional literacy. The videos are a part of an initiative on the part of the Department Chair to make psychology more relevant, and ideally earn money towards the leatherette massage chair he hopes to install in the Faculty Lounge. Graduate students in the Department were tasked with creating the videos as part of their coursework, but quickly became disgruntled with the project.
The Chair had asked the students to make a video explaining how to set boundaries in the three usual areas: physical, emotional and sexual. But several objected when it was pointed out that the Chair himself was notorious for violating student boundaries, not least in exploiting them for his personal massage chair dream.
Graduate students also noted that all the existing Youtube videos about boundaries were directed at people looking to set boundaries, and none were addressed to boundary violators. Rather than make another video that puts the burden of boundaries on the victim, the graduate students decided to make a video directed at people who violate boundaries.
Knowing that the Chair was unlikely to bother to actually watch the video himself, students posted an educational cat video directed at the Chair himself under the Association of Imaginary Schools logo. In the words of an anonymous graduate student, “Our educational video attempts to move the locus of anxiety and discipline from the violated to the violator.” Whatever that means.
When word reached the Chair of this prank, the Chair suspended the students and explained that they had violated his boundaries as well as the copyright of the AIS. However, since the Chair had not set up the Youtube account, the Chair was not able to take the offending video down. Finding that the video was actually earning quite a bit of money, the Chair decided in the end that his massage chair was more important than his dignity, and the video is still online.
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