Wednesday, Feb. 23, will mark the third annual “Knock off the Prof!” event sponsored by the Phi-Tau fraternity. “Knock off the Prof” gives students the chance to compete against professors in a game show-like trivia contest. Phi-Tau will be donating $2,000 in prize money, to be distributed between students and the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin.
The competition begins with all five professors *******– Glick, McQuinn, Sarnecki, Hall and Wulf *******– on stage. Students who have purchased raffle tickets for $4 apiece, or three for $10, are entered into a drawing, the winners of which are called on stage. In the first round, one student competes against one of the professors in a question that relates in some way to that professor’s field of study, but is considered to be common knowledge. If the student answers the question correctly before the professor, the student wins the money, and if the professor answers correctly, the money is donated to the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin.
Ten students will get a chance to compete in the first round, and then two rounds of five students versus the five professors will take place. The third round brings ten students to the stage and is capped off by a final one-on-one, best-out-of-five contest between one lucky student and a professor. The grand prize for the winner of this final round is a gigantic novelty check for $500. In the event of a disputed answer, representatives from each of the three sororities on campus serve as judges for an ultimate ruling.
Senior Phi-Tau member Jerry Tietz, who founded the contest three years ago, will host the event. Though the event is held on a campus that sports the nation’s longest-running trivia contest, Tietz described past attendance as “minimal.” Tietz commented that, “Most people assume when they read the posters that there must be some catch. There is no catch, we really are giving away two-thousand dollars.”
In an attempt to increase interest in “Knock off the Prof,” Phi-Tau has gotten Case By Case to design a podium especially for the event. The stage design is set up exactly as a game show would be and the contest is run in this manner as well. While students won about 60 percent of the money in 2003, professors reversed that number by winning 60 percent of the questions in 2004. Anyone can watch the event in Stansbury at 8 p.m. Wednesday night. Students wishing to compete in the event may purchase raffle tickets at Downer beginning Monday, Feb. 21, or throughout the course of the event itself. Students have the option of donating any money they win to the AIDS Resource Center.
Knock off the Prof-koe -jcr -dlh
