Patty Limerick celebrates April Fools' Day at University of Colorado Boulder
Patty Limerick, the University of Colorado Boulder’s official University Fool, held court for the first time in years in celebration of April Fools’ Day on Saturday.
Clad in rainbow-patterned clothes and sequins, Limerick was hard to miss on campus as the University Fool, a title she’s held since 1988. Despite nearly four decades in this role, Limerick hasn’t dressed up on campus for an April Fools’ Day for what she believes to be about seven years.
In September, Limerick was fired from her position as faculty director of CU’s Center of the American West, which she helped found. Limerick remains a tenured professor of history at the college, but said the experience was weighing on her and making her question her decision to appear as the University Fool this year.
“I was thinking that it would be hard to be openly joyful and watch people be joyful,” she said.
Ultimately, Limerick said her reemergence as the University Fool is part of “repossessing who (she is).” Saturday marked the end of the spring break week for CU students, but Limerick was able to greet and put a smile on the faces of about a couple of dozen people that afternoon outside the University Memorial Center.
“One of the things I like the most is when I don’t talk to them, but they just look so happy over the concept,” she said. “If you want people to laugh merrily and look like they’re having a great day, say, ‘Happy April Fools’ Day.’”
Limerick occasionally asked people if they believed that colleges are places of magic and enchantment, a question most answered with a “yes.” She also asked people if they were aware that CU had an appointed fool, which was met widely with a “no.”
“I wish April Fools’ wasn’t during spring break, so more people could encounter (her),” said Scott Smith, a junior at CU who met Limerick on Saturday. “It was a good interaction.”
Limerick said her love for embracing her “inner fool” comes from a clowning workshop she participated in when she was younger. She also enjoys paying tribute to the fools of medieval Europe, who were licensed to mock the king and were thought to dispel bad luck through their humor.
“Acknowledging yourself as a fool is liberation,” she said.
Limerick also served as the University Fool at Yale and Harvard universities on top of the teaching positions she held at both schools. She said one of her favorite memories of her “playing the fool” at Yale was seeing typically serious professors light up upon seeing her wacky regalia. As CU’s University Fool, she looks back fondly on opportunities she had to cheer people up when they were discouraged.
“They were short encounters, but you could see that people were really different when they walked away,” Limerick said.
Limerick also found herself connecting with a few colleagues and former students Saturday afternoon, including Pedro Rodriguez, a 2009 CU alum who took Limerick’s Western American History class.
“I recognized her might away,” Rodriguez said. “She definitely made an impact.”
As for next year, Limerick said she will likely don her colorful costume and clown makeup for another day of spreading joy around campus.
“I’ve waited way too long,” she said. “It was so fun.”