At MIT, there is a dormitory (or more precisely, pair of dormitory buildings) known as the East Campus Memorial Houses, or more commonly, East Campus. It has been pointed out fairly frequently over the years that "East Campus" isn't a proper name, it's a location description. In fact, East Campus isn't even the only dorm on the east side of campus-- Senior Haus is right across the street. Most of the residents get used to it, but every so often it has been suggested that the dorm ought to have a proper name.

About fifteen years ago, there was a member of the East Campus Housecomm who was especially frustrated by the lack of a proper name for his home. He brought the topic up at every meeting, until finally another member of Housecomm said "Well, then, why don't we just name it Fred?" Unfortunately for him, the first person took him seriously-- and was delighted.

And so it was that a few weeks later, a petition was put up at the East Campus desk suggesting that the dorm's name be officially changed to "Fred the Dorm". That petition failed miserably, but a new petition mysteriously appeared beside it-- a movement to officially change the name of East Campus Housecomm to "the Gang of Assholes", with the Housecomm Chair officially titles "the Head Asshole". That petition passed by a landslide.

That wasn't the end of Fred the Dorm, however. Every few years since then, the petition to rename the dorm has resurfaced, and every few years it's come closer to passing. It last came up four years ago- and failed by exactly one vote. We'll see what happens next time.

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