The one-way
Harvard vs
MIT rivalry has been going on for decades-- probably since the
Institute moved across
the
river from
Boston to
Cambridge, where
Harvard was
already the
university in town. It might even have gone back further than
that.
There are dozens of examples of MIT students demonstrating their contempt
for their rivals up the river. The expression "A Harvard education is like
tending flowers; an MIT education is like forging steel" should give you some idea of the great esteem many MIT students hold a Harvard education in. Hackers love to prey on Harvard, and there have been many hacks big
and small performed on the "little brick school up the river":
- The gates of Harvard Yard were welded together one night with thermite. This is no longer considered a hack, merely a malicious prank: a hack should be non-destructive, which this definitely wasn't. This was
done several decades ago, when definitions were rather different. Today's hackers try to disassociate themselves with this incident, but it was a case of Harvard-MIT rivalry.
- A weather balloon with MIT written all over it appeared during the Harvard-Yale football game one year.
- At another Harvard-Yale game, Yale fans were handed colored placards which they were told would, when held up, have a picture of the Yale mascot. Instead, the colors spelled out "MIT".
- Another Harvard-Yale hack: the MIT Marching Band dressed up in Yale's colors, went onto the field at halftime, and marched in formation spelling "MIT".
- A brass rat and Jack Florey shirt were put on John Harvard's statue in Harvard Yard.
- Hackers take on Harvard traditions: the Harvard Plate Story
Well, MIT was MIT when Harvard was a pup
And MIT will be MIT when Harvard's time is up
And any Harvard son-of-a-bitch who think's he's in our class
Can pucker up his rosy lips and kiss the beaver's ass
--- The Engineers' Drinking Song