A drunken Facebook 'poke' made Saturday by Tricia Henry '07 to Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Student Life Margaret Klawunn has set off a frenzied poking war between the two.
Henry made the poke after "perhaps one too many appletinis" in celebration of a completed rough draft of her thesis on the metaphysics of Jorge Luis Borges.
"It was a big moment for me, and I just got a little overexcited," Henry said.
She discovered the administrator's Facebook profile months earlier after reading a Herald article about college administrators and security officials reading student Facebook profiles.
"Anyone with a brown.edu e-mail can be on the Brown Facebook network, so I decided to look up administrators in a particularly pathetic attempt at procrastination," Henry said. She found Klawunn's page and immediately felt the urge to poke the administrator - a temptation that she had not acted upon until Saturday.
"The next morning, I thought I was going to receive an angry e-mail from (Klawunn) ... but instead, she poked me back and added me as a friend," Henry said. "Of course, I poked back and confirmed the friend request. We have gone back and forth maybe four times now."
Klawunn, who had no personal information in her profile before the poke, has recently added a profile picture and listed "David Bowie, Wyclef and JT!!!" under her favorite music, according to her News Feed.
Klawunn did not respond to Facebook messages and wall posts requesting comment, but sources inside the Office of Student Life say Klawunn has become obsessed with Facebook since the poke. The sources were granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about Klawunn's social networking habits.
"That's all that she has been talking about for the whole week," said one source. "She even asked me whether having David Greene in her Facebook picture suggests that they're in a relationship."
Greene was vice president for campus life and student services until his resignation last summer.
Though Henry has never seen Klawunn in person, she expects they would have a cordial relationship if they should ever meet.
"I think we would get along really well. In fact, I might just buy a halogen lamp or some other fire hazard so I can meet her in the disciplinary hearing," Henry said.
Henry has had so much success with her cyber-interaction with Klawunn that she would like to repeat the stunt with other administrators.
"I really want to poke the Berge, but she doesn't have a Facebook profile," Henry said, referring to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. "Maybe Margaret will tell her about how much fun it is."
