Thursday afternoon, a first year student, Arthur Bowman, was mauled on the Arbor. Arthur was walking to the library from his lecture at Campbell Hall when he stopped to listen to someone who had shoved a flyer in his face. As soon as the other tablers saw how willing Arthur was to listen, they began swarming him.

Although Arthur soon realized that the people passing out flyers were much more aggressive than he had initially perceived, no one around would help protect him from the mauling as they didn’t want to be made to feel any more empathy than Arthur did. After 15 minutes, Arthur’s had a minor heart attack after blood loss from the thousands of paper cuts he had sustained from flyers being shoved into his every orifice.

After Arthur had woken up in the hospital, he was triggered when the nurse handed him a paper for him to sign regarding insurance. He had a panic attack and thought someone was going to try to make him join something.

Arthur was released from the hospital the next day with only minor injuries. When asked about the situation, Arthur said he just, “wanted to hear what everyone had to say. They all seemed so nice, the least I could do was listen. They all seemed so friendly.”

After word got out of Arthur’s incident, other students started coming out about the unwanted encounters with tablers at the Arbor they have faced. This led to a student activist campaign on campus as many students began protesting the actions of the tablers. They centralized their campaign by setting up  a table by the Arbor.

When asked why they were protesting, the leader, third year Lily Aragon, said “No means no! Even though Arthur had initially consented to the conversation, the consent to converse was revoked! This is the last time flyerers will get away with talking to people without their consent.”

In response to the protests, Jenny Takano, a fourth year student who has tabled at the Arbor many times and was there when Arthur was mauled claimed that, “If Arthur didn’t want to get mauled, he shouldn’t have looked so willing to listen.. It wasn’t our fault, he just had such a welcoming smile. What can I say, tablers will be tablers.”

Arthur’s mom, Mrs. Bowman, is furious and demands something done by Chancellor Yang, “My son’s innocence was taken. He says he never wants to openly talk to strangers again. He will never have that extroverted nature again. Now he’s all introverted and broken. They ruined my son and the school administration is doing nothing.”

Arthur doesn’t plan to press charges but has avoided the Arbor ever since his incident. He states that if he does end up walking past the Arbor, he will be prepared with antisocial vibes and his headphones in.