Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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Trivia

• The term "gweep," meaning one who hacks on a computer at night, originated at WPI.
• Many of the members of the well-established fanfiction-writing group Eyrie Productions are or were students at WPI, and much of their writing is littered with WPI references.
• WPI has a student organization known as the Skull. Details on the group are scarce due to their tradition of being secretive. Publicly available information includes who their members are. When a person is considered for membership, they are considered "tapped," a word used in official Skull related press releases. According to students who have been tapped, the process partly involves answering questions about WPI's past and wearing a yellow and black ribbon. Their stated purpose is to preserve the traditions of WPI and act as a sounding board for new ideas from the campus community. They are not associated with the Skull and Bones organization in Yale.
• Usenet flaming is said to have originated at WPI in arguments over computer time. WPI currently maintains wpi.flame.
• Male-only school until 1968. The current male:female ratio is approximately 3:1. (Though if you asked a student, they would likely reply "Pi to 1")
• In 2003, the door to the (by then abandoned) Gompei's pizzeria was stolen. Administrators were displeased with the act, though several students hailed it as a prank similar to those of WPI's history. Who stole it was never determined, though the most likely suspect (due to photos of the door resting behind his couch) was Jonathan Pesch, '03. After the door was "mysteriously" returned, administrators scraped the painted Gompei's logo off the glass, destroying the last remaining artifact of the original Gompei's.
• The second debate in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial race between Mitt Romney and Shannon O'Brien was held at WPI's Campus Center.
• WPI's first Marshall Scholar was Nicholas Twomey Baker '03.
• Its newspaper, Tech News, changed its name to Newspeak in the 1970s, then changed its name back to Tech News in 2000.
• Since 1982 WPI has offered a summer-program for high school science & engineering students named Frontiers.
• In 2001, the Undergraduate Advocacy Council (UAC) was formed. They were WPI's first on campus political group since the founding of the Student Government Association in the early 90's. Individuals displeased with the Student Government's current operations comprised its members. Even though it was supported members of the school administration, the UAC nontheless failed to take control of the SGA Executive council. It later disbanded.
• Since 1997, WPI has offered a summer outreach program for girls entering the sixth grade, Camp REACH, to promote women in math & science.
• The WPI Acronym Dictionary currently consists of over 850 acronyms which are catalogued by an alumnus from the Class of 2005.
• Many rooms on the WPI campus have acquired alternate names based on who uses them and how they appear. The Campus Center's Hagglund Room is popularly referred to as "The War Room." Also, the Class of 1946 Lounge (also in the Campus Center) is referred to as the "OctoWedge."