Heave-ho! Top-ranked university hurls pianos from its roof

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has long been ranked among the worlds top three colleges, usually the very top. Its redeeming grace is that it has always housed independent thinkers, some – like Noam Chomsky – from the world of classical scholarship.

But an MIT ritual, disclosed today, leaves doubts about its respect for civilisation.

Ever since 1972, it has been the MIT custom, once a year, to hurl a piano off the roof. What started as a pseudo-scientific jape has become a distinctive feature of college life.

Deborah Douglas, the director of collections at the MIT Museum, says she isn’t surprised that the piano drop has endured. “It fits the zeitgeist and culture of MIT,” she says. Read here.

Jeez. The piano brings joy to people’s hearts. No mater how poor its condition, it deserves better than sophomoric vandalism.