The Pail and Shovel Party won election to UW student government in 1978, vowing to give campus issues
"the seriousness they deserve." Jim Mallon & Leon Varjian were the men behind the Pail and Shovel Party.
Before the Pail and Shovel Party Leon Varjian was already pulling pranks. Seated on the street at a
card table that looked like any other cause trying to gather support was Leon. Flyers, Maps, and a
Petition for collecting signatures. His cause, he wanted to change the name of the University of
Wisconsin to the University of New Jersey. His reasoning was that graduates could say they had
attended a prestigious Eastern school. He had the time, he was taking just one credit.
In his introduction to student government he submitted his name for a vacant seat in the student
senate. He attended the meeting where they discussed his appointment dressed in a clown suit. It
took an hour and a half but he was approved by two votes.
The next logical step was to run things, so with Mallon running for president, Varjian ran for vice president saying "that's where the power is".
They made election promises to:
Convert the budget into pennies and dump it on Library Mall and let the students go at it with pails and shovels
Buy the Statue of Liberty and move her to Wisconsin
Flood Camp Randall Stadium and hold mock naval battles
Erect a 50-foot tall Mickey Mouse Pez candy dispenser
Change all students' names to Joe Smith so that professors would know everyone by name.
Their campaign flyer read:
Honesty…
Integrity…
Responsibility…
Pail and Shovel doesn't believe in any of them!
After winning the election they hung a banner on the
Memorial Union reading
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
With a substantial budget acquired from student fees they made good on many of their promises,
including bringing the Statue of Liberty to Madison.
Placing a chicken wire, papier-mâché, and plywood mock-up
with 22’ head and 40’ arm on Lake Mendota. When they were told that students were offended that money
was spent on the prank, they offered anyone who didn't like the statue a rebate of a dime, which is
what they calculated was the cost to each student. When about 60 students gathered outside WSA offices
to collect their money, Varjian wrote each a check for ten cents. The mockup was mysteriously burned
down the early hours of March 2nd.
They had a toga party for about 10,000 people, John Belushi called the party to give his blessings.
It was about this time Varjian Ran unsuccessfully for Madison’s City Council. He wanted to change the
city name to 'Cheesetopia’
For the next years run at Student Council the Pail & Shovel party taunted students with campaign adds
"Are you stupid enough to vote us in again?" They Were. This time Pail and Shovel promised all the
major monuments of the world. They did bring the Washington Monument, hiring a construction crane to
suspend a five-inch bronze copper replica. In the fall, on the first day of classes, students were
welcomed by over 1,000 pink plastic flamingos on Bascom Hill.
A toga party was thrown for the second straight year. The university relocated an appearance of the
Dalai Lama for fear he would get caught in the festivities (which included a Dalai Lama look-alike
contest). At the evening's end, Mallon and Varjian discovered they had about $20,000 in one dollar
bills. They stuffed all the money into grocery bags and jammed it into the night depository of their
bank. They also brought the Statue of Liberty back for a second year.
Stu D. Baker “Sergeant at arms” began declaring war on other colleges. In February 1980 The University
of Missouri made the first strike when they spread 500 pounds of manure on the steps of the Memorial
Union. They left a note "BOOM. Consider yourselves nuked" "Compliments of the four saboteurs from
Mizzou."
Pail and Shovel did not seek a third term.
http://www.stubaker.com/madison/pailandshovel/
