Asking students on social media what to do to fill the hours in your day can be a pretty dangerous thing to do.
Not only may you find yourself in a situation where you end up doing embarrassing things, inappropriate things or even things that threaten your life – you may also be asked to take part in a viral video craze.
No, we’re not talking NekNominate or WetNominate, we’re talking about the Ice Bucket Challenge.
That’s what the new YUSU President Sam Maguire signed up to take part in on Facebook earlier today after posting: “Have a few hours spare over the next week, what would people like the SU to do? Literally comment with weird and wacky ideas and we will see what we can do!”
So, as you can imagine, when he said ‘weird’ and ‘wacky’, students responded alike.
“SU ice bucket challenge,” said one.
“The lighter fluid and match bucket challenge,” asked another.
Some were more sensible in their responses though.
One ranted: “Get Cass to tell the sports center their new pricing system is ridiculous for students who just want to play racket sports!!”
And another said: “Speak to the bus company and see if we can reinstate the discount on the Leeds bus (844) even though it now only comes through campus on a Sunday? (Also why does it now only go through campus on a Sunday?!)”
We asked the new YUSU President whether he would indeed take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge craze, after the original post by sociology student Caitlin Graham was ‘liked’ a dozen times, to which he confirmed to York Vision that he and Students Activities Officer Chris Wall would be: tomorrow, in fact.
“We will have it up on YouTube,” he said.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was a craze started by the ALS Association, who are working to fight Amyotrophic lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Motor Neurone Disease, as it’s known in the UK.
The idea is to film yourself being doused in a bucket full of ice-cold water, post the video to social media and then get your friends to do the same. Or, if you do not want to do that, you can simply just donate. The Macmillan Cancer Charity has recently also been backing the craze for those living in Britain.
Celebrities including former US President George Bush have taken part, as well as professional Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.
But to be honest, we’re just looking forward to seeing the newly-elected YUSU officers being doused.
We’ll of course put the video up as soon as we get it.
Get ready to chuckle – or screech, depending how you take to online crazes.