The Prank on Harvard

The main entrance to Harvard, as it usually stands.

The main entrance to Harvard, adjusted for accuracy.

Last fall, we ran the Sign Insanity Contest, where we challenged our users to come up with a funny large-format vinyl banner that we could hang outside a local business or institution. We got tons of creative ideas, but our favorite was submitted by ZUG reader French Mailman. "Create a banner for the entrance of Harvard University," he suggested, "that reads INSTITUTE OF NOWLEGE."

And so we did.

Confused Harvard students try to identify what's wrong.

The 20-foot gates are the primary entrance for Harvard Yard, facing Massachusetts Avenue and attracting thousands of students, visitors, and homeless each day.

The Latin inscription on the gates is translated as, "IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU PROBABLY DON'T NEED TO GO TO HARVARD."

We stood beside the gates for an hour, watching students and listening to their comments. The first notable reaction was that not one Harvard student laughed. The only smiles came from the Baby Boomer set: Harvard professors, no doubt, recalling the glorious counterculture of the 60's, before their lives became an unending cycle of toil and despair.

We overheard many hilarious comments from Harvard students, however, such as one guy who said to his friend: "Doesn't 'knowledge' have a D in it?" Yes, dear Harvard frosh, and it also has a K.

A typical look of indifference.

Another Harvard woman said disdainfully, "I think it's supposed to be a joke, but I don't get it."

After an hour, our fun was interrupted by the Harvard Police, who are similar to other campus police officers, except wearing cardigans. They stood outside the gate, staring at the sign in confusion, then radioed for backup support.

Hidden camera shot.

This was apparently a situation that required surveillance, as the police cruiser sat guarding the entrance until a maintenance crew could arrive to take it down.

Apparently, Harvard is not only opposed to college pranks, it is opposed to knowledge.

Or at least NOWLEGE.

A few days later, I called to see if we could get our sign back, but I was informed that the sign had been thrown away. Fortunately, we were able to get a newer, better sign quickly created for our next prank on MIT.

The question: is the sense of humor still alive in modern-day Harvard students? The answer, it turns out, is no.

But would we fare any better at MIT? We were about to find out.