The students who'd been there told
the Hartley Rogers Fencing Story for years, because they thought it had been the coolest lecture of their freshman year. And it didn't take too many years before some new students decided that the first
hack had been so cool, they'd do it again. Of course,
hacking the same class several times isn't nearly as interesting, so they chose another of the freshman core classes:
3.091, also known as
3.09Fun or Introduction to
Chemistry, taught by one
August Witt.
And so, a few months into the year, August Witt is writing notes on organic molecules and electron bindings on the board in his 3.091 lecture. The students in the front of the lecture hall are diligently taking notes, the students in the middle of the hall are just as diligently passing notes, and the students in the back of the hall are napping after the weekend's parties, when suddenly the door bursts open, and a figure runs in. He's dressed all in black, wearing a black fencing mask and carrying a saber, and he calls out "August Witt! For too many years you have bored the freshmen with your talk of molecules and elements, and I have come to put a stop to it! Defend yourself!" And he runs down to the front of the lecture hall.
Before Witt has a chance to reply, a door bursts open at the other side of the lecture hall, and a figure all in white runs in, wearing a white fencing mask and carrying a saber, and says "August Witt! For years you have been teaching the freshmen well! I will defend your honor!"
Now, at this point, there is a departure from the script, because Witt steps forward, takes the saber from the figure in white, and says "Thank you, but I will defend my own honor." And then he enters fencing stance, and proceeds to chase the swordsman in black all the way across the classroom and disarm him.
You see, what the freshmen failed to realize when planning their hack is that before he came to MIT, August Witt had been the three-time National Fencing Champion of Austria. The moral of the story? Make sure you always know just who you're hacking.