Backstreet Boys as Punishment

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/09/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

No more being told to go stand in the corner. Campus police at the University of Toronto are attempting to "torture" students into ending a six-day sit-in being held in president Robert Prichard's office by blasting Backstreet Boys music at them all through the night. "This is probably the first time the Backstreet Boys have been deliberately used as a form of sleep-deprivation torture," protester Sonia Singh told Canada's National Post newspaper. The demonstrators are protesting the sale of campus clothing made in Third World sweatshops. Meanwhile, students at Connecticut College who face punishment are being told that they can either be detained in study hall -- or be forced to attend an opera. Don't laugh: Opera buffs are overjoyed. They think this will open a whole new audience to the musical art form.