Oznot, Joseph David ?68

Oznot, Joseph David, was probably the best known character admitted to the University in his time. His qualifications were eminently meritorious. The Admission Office's file on him showed that at high school in East Lansing, Michigan, he was a top student, a classicist, a concert pianist, and class treasurer, with College Examination Board scores in the 700s.

Notice of his admission to the Class of 1968 was accordingly sent him on April 16, 1964, and on the same day his name duly appeared on the official admission list posted in West College. Two days later newspapers from coast to coast carried an Associated Press report that Joseph David Oznot "was not,'' that the University had been tricked into admitting a fictitious character by a clever, well-executed hoax, perpetrated by six sophomores, four at Princeton, one at Columbia, one at Michigan State University.

The Michigan State sophomore had submitted Oznot's preliminary application for admission in October, giving his fraternity house as Oznot's address. During the Christmas recess the Columbia sophomore came to Princeton for Oznot's interview at the Admission Office and made a favorable impression. In January two of the Princeton sophomores took Oznot's College Board exams, with highly creditable results. The final application papers, with space for marks and comment by the high school, were received by the Michigan State sophomore, and carefully filled out by the six conspirators. They settled on April 1 for Oznot's birthday and private detective as the occupation of his father, William H. Oznot ( W.H.O.).

E. Alden Dunham, who was then Director of Admission, found the hoax "ingenious," and took a professional view about Joseph David Oznot. "We would have loved," he said, "to have had him." [Source: Princeton]