MIT is famous for engineering, computer science, Nobel Prizes and some seriously difficult courses. It also has pirates. Since 2011, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been able to earn an official MIT Pirate Certificate by completing four particular physical education classes: archery, fencing, pistol or rifle, and sailing. It sounds like an internet joke, but MIT really does issue the certificates, and one of its most famous recipients is the actor Matt Damon.
A real award, but not a qualification
The Pirate Certificate is a genuine MIT award, but it is not a degree or a separate qualification. According to MIT Physical Education and Wellness, it is designed to recognise completion of the undergraduate physical education requirement, and to give students an incentive to finish it. It is only available to MIT students; courses taken elsewhere and life experience do not count. One detail is easy to get wrong, though. You do not have to be an undergraduate: Snopes reports that the department awards certificates to any student, undergraduate or graduate, who completes the four courses.
MIT clearly enjoys the joke. As the MIT Alumni Association describes it, the certificate is printed on faux parchment and declares that the named “salty dog” is entitled to the pirate certificate with all its privileges and obligations. It also comes with a sensible disclaimer: MIT states that it is for entertainment purposes only and gives no licence to engage in actual piracy.
The four classes you need
| Course | The pirate connection |
|---|---|
| Archery | Firing arrows from the deck |
| Fencing | The inevitable sword fight |
| Pistol (air pistol) or rifle | The modern take on pirate firepower |
| Sailing | Probably the most obvious requirement |
Once passing grades for all four are recorded, students email the Physical Education and Wellness office with their name and MIT ID number to claim their certificate. There is a practical catch with sailing: the alumni association notes that it requires passing MIT’s swim test, so before you can become a pirate, you need to show you are unlikely to sink. It adds that simply getting a place in all four classes is part of the challenge.
It started as a student joke
The best part is that MIT did not invent the idea. Being an MIT pirate was an informal campus joke long before it was official: students who happened to complete pistol, archery, sailing and fencing simply started calling themselves pirates, and campus lore places the start somewhere in the late 1990s or early 2000s, according to Interesting Facts, which adds that a commemorative eye patch was once considered instead of a certificate. In the autumn of 2011, MIT made it official. The alumni association’s first article on the certificate reported that student pirates had existed informally for about 20 years before the department issued the first certificates to six students. It is a very MIT way of doing things: someone notices that a strange combination of classes produces a pirate, and eventually the university prints the result on parchment.
There is no current public total of MIT pirates, but by the time of the alumni association’s later article, 354 students and alumni had received certificates. That figure is a historical milestone rather than today’s count. The certificates are handed out at a spring ritual called Pirate Induction Day, and Snopes notes that the department’s photos show a steady stream of delighted students in full pirate dress.
Then Matt Damon became a pirate
The most famous MIT pirate never took the four classes. In 2016, Matt Damon gave MIT’s commencement address, and President L. Rafael Reif presented him with an honorary pirate certificate. The reason was wonderfully specific. As Reif explained in his speech to the graduates, in The Martian, Damon’s character, the stranded astronaut Mark Watney, decides that Mars counts as international waters, which makes him a space pirate. Reif noted that the certificate normally requires meeting the department’s standards in archery, sailing, fencing and pistol, but presented Damon with a special, authentic one for promoting a swashbuckling appreciation of science, engineering and space exploration.
There is a reason MIT chose a pirate certificate rather than an honorary degree. According to Boston.com, MIT has never conferred an honorary degree in its history, and its founder, William Barton Rogers, reportedly dismissed the practice as “literary almsgiving”. The pirate certificate was the next best thing, and the alumni association makes clear that Damon is an honorary pirate, not quite the same as the students who earned theirs.
Why it works
The joke works because there is a real achievement underneath it. MIT already requires its students to complete physical education classes, and the Pirate Certificate simply rewards anyone who chooses four that happen to add up to a gloriously silly theme. Instead of “congratulations, you finished your PE requirement”, MIT gets to say “congratulations, you are now a pirate”, and plenty of students clearly think that is worth the effort. It is a genuine tradition that grew out of student culture, was formalised in 2011, and is still listed by MIT today. You just should not expect it to come with a ship. Traditions with unexpected backstories are some of my favourite things to dig into; the kings on a deck of cards have one too, which I looked into in do the kings in a deck of cards represent real kings?, and so does the name of a technology you use every day, as I found in why Bluetooth is called Bluetooth.
Sources
- MIT Physical Education and Wellness: MIT Pirate Certificate
- MIT Alumni Association: Arrrrr! MIT pirates certified (2011)
- MIT Alumni Association: Arrrr! MIT pirates, and Matt Damon, certified
- MIT News: President Rafael Reif’s charge to the Class of 2016
- Boston.com: MIT just made Matt Damon a certified pirate
- Snopes: Does MIT offer students a pirate certificate?
- Interesting Facts: MIT awards a certificate in piracy