Traditions and student activities at MIT
The traditions and student activities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology encompass hundreds of student activities, organizations, and athletics that contribute to MIT's distinct culture.
Traditions
MIT has relatively few formal traditions, compared to many other universities, but has a rich culture of informal traditions and jargon. There are a few "big events" such as Commencement, but many smaller, decentralized activities sponsored by departments, labs, living groups, student activities, and ad hoc groups of MIT community members united by common interests.Brass Rat
"Brass Rat" refers to the MIT class ring, which prominently features the school mascot beaver on the top surface. The ring is traditionally made of gold, the beaver is the largest North American rodent, hence "gold beaver" has informally become "Brass Rat" in student lingo.Course numbering
MIT students often refer to both their majors and classes using numbers alone. Majors are numbered in the approximate order of when the department was founded; for example, Civil and Environmental Engineering is Course I, while Nuclear Science & Engineering is Course XXII. Students majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the most popular department, collectively identify themselves as "Course VI" or "Course 6."MIT students use a combination of the department's Course number and a number assigned to the class to identify their subjects; the course which many universities would designate as "Physics 101" is, at MIT, "8.01." For brevity, course number designations are pronounced without the decimal point and by replacing "oh" for zero. Thus, "8.01" is pronounced eight oh one, "2.009" is pronounced two double oh nine, and "5.60" would be pronounced five sixty. This naming is not internally consistent: for example, the digital systems course "6.111" is pronounced six one eleven, but the introductory chemistry course "5.111" is pronounced five eleven one.
Smoots
The "Smoot" is a traditional unit of measuring length on the Harvard Bridge, which despite its name, connects MIT to Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, across the Charles River.Tim the Beaver
The beaver is the official mascot of MIT, appearing at athletic events, fundraisers, and other occasions. A beaver was selected as the MIT mascot because beavers are "nature's engineers". This decision was made at the Technology Club of New York's annual dinner on January 17, 1914 upon proposal by President Richard Maclaurin. The beaver's name, "Tim", was given by 1985; it is "MIT" spelled backwards. The sports teams at MIT often choose to feature Tim the Beaver as their mascot, and go by the name "The Engineers".Recurring events
Bad Ideas Festival
This event, which usually takes place between the parallels of the East Campus dormitories, features oddball activities, stunts, and constructions. Notable Bad Ideas events include temporary roller coasters and the Green Building Challenge. The event takes place during the last weekend of January.Baker House Piano Drop
Each spring, the denizens of Baker House drop an old, irreparable piano off the roof to let it plunge six stories onto the ground, to celebrate Drop Date, the last date one can drop classes at MIT. The resulting dent in asphalt has spawned a unit of volume, known as the Bruno.Campus Preview Weekend
Campus Preview Weekend is a relatively new event sponsored by the Admissions Office, which invites recently admitted high school students to visit the campus before deciding whether or not to attend MIT. Invited students can sample classes, tour the campus, attend special events, and stay overnight with MIT students. The first fully inclusive event was held in 1999. 2013's CPW was held around early to mid April.East Campus Rush
Immediately before the beginning of Fall term, during Orientation Week for new students, residents of East Campus dormitory construct large-scale temporary structures, such as a roller coaster, in the space between the parallel wings of the residence. These projects are large enough that the City of Cambridge requires detailed engineering drawings in advance, plus a letter from a licensed engineer certifying that the design conforms to local building codes.Independent Activities Period
Independent Activities Period is a four-week-long inter-semester "term" offering hundreds of optional classes, lectures, demonstrations, and other activities throughout the month of January between the Fall and Spring terms. The final event is a half-day "Charm School" sponsored by the Student Activities Office. The first IAP was in 1971.DTYD (Dance Till You Drop)
Dance Till You Drop is an annual party, hosted by the Burton-Conner living group the Burton 3rd Bombers, which is typically held the Sunday of Patriot's Day weekend in the Burton-Conner House Porter Room. The party has been traditionally accompanied by a hack and hosted live music, and is open to the entire campus. First hosted in 1969, the event celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019.Ring events
The Brass Rat undergraduate ring is designed and presented in the sophomore year of each class. The design is unveiled during the Ring Premiere in the fall term, which is followed months later by the Ring Delivery in the spring term. The latter has been a tradition since 1999, and is typically a formal occasion, often held off campus.Spring Weekend
Spring Weekend is an annual event that includes performances by local as well as major recording artists as well as picnics, parties, home varsity games, and other celebrations.Steer Roast
Steer Roast is an annual weekend of celebration and festivities hosted by Senior House. The first Steer Roast took place in the spring of 1964, and this MIT tradition was maintained for over fifty years on the first weekend of every May. In May 2014, Senior House celebrated its 50th anniversary of Steer Roast. In the past MIT presidents and professors attended, but this time no presidential appearance occurred, in spite of the usual invitations. Then in 2017, Steer Roast was to be held during the first weekend of May, but two weeks before that, the event was cancelled by MIT administrators. Soon afterwards, in spite of student and alumni pleas and protests, Senior House itself was closed down. In May 2017, Steer Roast was celebrated off campus and on schedule.Harvard and MIT Aphrodite Project
The Harvard and MIT Aphrodite Project is an annual matchmaking event where thousands of students complete a psychology questionnaire and are matched with their best algorithmic match for valentine's day across the two universities.Non-recurring and sporadic events
Annual Spontaneous Tuition Riot
This "annual" event is generally not scheduled in advance, but occurs spontaneously in the Spring in response to the MIT administration's announcement of the tuition increase for the following year. The "riot" usually consists of a noisy protest march through the campus, accompanied by traditional chants of "$$$ is Too Damn Much!", where "$$$" is replaced by the newly announced tuition amount. Participants generally let off steam in a good-natured way, and injuries or property damage are extremely rare. The tradition has died out and then been revived several times.''Chrysalis'', ''Monarch'', and ''Daedalus'' human-powered aircraft
From the 1970s until the early 1990s, MIT had a succession of student-led projects which designed, built, and flew human-powered aircraft, starting with BURD and BURD II, and evolving into the flight of the Chrysalis in 1979, the first of the MIT HPAs to successfully fly. Chrysalis went on to have over 44 pilots, including the first female pilots of an HPA.The Monarch A was an HPA built and flown by a student team in 1983, with the aim of winning a £20,000 Kremer Prize for sustaining a speed of over 30 km/h over a 1.5 km triangular course. A modified version of that craft, the MIT Monarch B, won the prize the following year. The Chrysalis and the Monarch HPAs were precursors to the Daedalus aircraft, which flew, solely under human-power, from Crete to the island of Santorini off the Greek mainland in 1988.
MIT Blackjack Team
MIT Gangnam Style
MIT students produced "MIT Gangnam Style", a lighthearted parody of the "Gangnam Style" music video which was an Internet phenomenon in 2012. The video featured hundreds of MIT students dancing in a wide overview of dozens of extracurricular student activities across the campus. The music video closely followed the original version, and included cameo appearances by MIT professors Donald Sadoway, recognized by Time Magazine in 2012 as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World", Eric Lander, who was co-chairman of President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and Noam Chomsky, a pioneer of modern linguistics.Soon after the video's release, The Huffington Post published an article with the headline "MIT 'Chomsky Style' Best Gangnam Parody Yet? Noted Intellectual Steals The Wacky Show".
Sodium Drop
The Sodium Drop traditionally consisted of a bar of metallic sodium dropped into the Charles River, producing loud explosions due to the rapid exothermic conversion of sodium metal to sodium hydroxide and the ignition of the resulting hydrogen gas. In the past, Sodium Drops occurred sporadically, initiated by impromptu groups of students from various dorms and fraternities.However, in 2007, five volunteers using a boat to clean up trash from the river banks were injured by a small explosion and fire, apparently caused by unreacted sodium residue. MIT quickly donated funds to pay for decontaminating and repairing the boat, although it was not clear at the time who was responsible for the damage.
A criminal case was initiated, and a graduate student accepted responsibility, resulting in a fine and a community-service sentence. In addition, a long-running civil suit against a fraternity resulted from this incident, culminating in a six-figure out-of-court settlement. The student newspaper The Tech has published an editorial urging readers to take responsibility for any injuries to innocent parties that result from the prank.