It’s been an unofficial, underground practice among students at MIT for at least 20 years: Any student who completes courses in pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing is considered a pirate.
Now it's no longer an informal process. MIT has brazenly admitted to preparing countless sea dogs for lives of villainy. Henceforth, students who complete the program earn actual, physical certificates:
As of this school year, the physical education department is formally conferring pirate status on students, printing certificates on faux parchment with diploma-esque calligraphy. Each paper, authorized by the "swashbucklin’" Massachusetts Institute of Technology, certifies that the named "salty dog" is entitled to a Pirate Certificate “with all its privileges and obligations thereof."
In response, the more sedate CalTech has launched a training program that leads to a letter of marque.
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