Faculty of Lesser-Known Arts and Sciences takes on the fringe

It's a little bit serious, a little bit aluminum hats.

The Faculty of Lesser-Known Arts and Sciences hosted its third colloquiumon Tuesday, discussing hexes and hoaxes in Canada.

"The Faculty of Lesser-Known Arts and Sciences is a group of armchair 'academics,' per se, and they are interested in bringing fringe arts and science topics to a general audience," said dean ClaudiaBustos.

The group covered cryptozoologyand "smuggling and bootleggery" in its previous two talks, with presentations running the gamut of serious academic presentations to supernatural sing-a-longs.

'80 per cent seriousnessand 20 per cent questionable'

For hexes and hoaxes, there will be talks on Piltdown Man once thought to be proof of a missing link between apes and humans to how to remove a hex and a discussion onreferences to witchcraft in the Canadian Criminal Code.

Bustos said they have a balance somewhere in the realm of "80 per cent seriousnessand 20 per cent questionable," and that there's a bit of diversity in the crowd as well.

"We've been finding that about 95 per cent of people are in on the joke with us, and the other five per cent is definitely more of the aluminum-hat-wearing community," she said, adding they welcome that community with open arms.

The group will be launching what it calls a scholarship program for its dedicated fans and is creating a "non-peer-reviewed journal" where the public can submit contributions on fringe topics.