While last month's alleged assault on Princeton University student John Brantl by five Penn undergraduates has gained national news coverage and infamy on Penn's campus, students at other Ivy League schools seem to be less concerned about the situation.
Most said they were not even aware of the incident, and in fact, some claimed there have been similar altercations at their own schools.
Dartmouth student Sarita Hudgins said Greek rivalries at the university led to such an incident.
"Undergraduates seem to take rivals between two groups pretty seriously," Hudgins said. "My freshman year, we had one fraternity kid try to light another kid on fire. It's just stupid."
But whether or not the alleged assault at Penn was closely connected to an interschool rivalry, other Ivy League students seem to agree that while the incident was condemnable, it was not out of the ordinary.
"I think people mention it as something that was kind of stupid to do," Hudgins said. "But I think we've had our share of stupid lighting-on-fire prank ideas. I don't think that people think that Penn kids are stupid. I think it means that people are pretty dumb and immature."
However, the news has not hit most Ivy League students.
"I'm not" aware of it, Yale freshman Mia Simpson said. "No, not at all. People haven't been talking. I'm pretty tuned into things, and I haven't heard anything about it."
Students at the other schools often echoed Simpson's sentiments, and many noted that they have paid little attention to the news in light of final exams and end-of-the-semester pressures.
"I haven't heard about it," Dartmouth senior Emily Murray said. "It's exam period, and I haven't left my room in a while, but I haven't really heard about that."
None of the Harvard University students contacted were cognizant of the alleged assault, and The Harvard Crimson did not report on the incident.
"I haven't heard much about this," Harvard student Lara Dixon said. "I don't really keep up much, so I'm not aware personally."
But despite the lack of interest on the part of all students, many college papers, including The Dartmouth and The Yale Daily News, have run stories about the incident.
And the national coverage of the story has also brought the story to some students' attentions.
"I heard about it because it was in one newspaper, it might have been The [New York] Times and the newspaper here," Dartmouth senior Andy Fisher said. "A lot of people I was talking to were really just confused as to why it happened, it seemed totally random and, frankly, disgusting."
Students who have heard about the alleged attack disagree about whether they think it was primarily linked to a Penn-Princeton rivalry or was simply a random act of violence.
"There was some usual snide remark about the Penn-Princeton deal," Columbia freshman Brandon Green said. "I basically heard that a Princeton kid was at Penn, and they were beaten up or something like that. It seems pretty random to me. I don't really believe in rivalries between Ivy League schools. I think it's made up."
At least one angle of the story -- the connection of the five alleged attackers to one of Penn's underground organizations, the Owl Society -- sparked interest on the Yale campus, where secret societies are commonplace.
"It's not the talk of the campus, but it's definitely of concern that something like this would happen," Yale senior Evan LePatner said. "It's on our radar screen. My impression was that they were not strolling for a Princeton student. I feel like, to be frank... our societies here are not 'public' so there's not a tremendous parallel. It doesn't happen here in this sort of fashion. Also, it involved freshmen, which would not be a part of these societies."
