After reading this particular article I felt the need to respond. It seems to me that the anonymous person who wrote this commentary not only has some gross misconceptions about how the class of '96 obtained the goat, but they also seem ignorant to a lot of the traditions which accompany this trophy.
As everyone is now aware, the Goat's head trophy is back in circulation. The reason for this is to try and ignite class and school spirit, which if I may point out, it has! If you were around Saturday you know exactly what I'm talking about, but a bit more on that later. As for the "crimes" which were allegedly committed by the class of '96, they never happened. The commentator states that "these individuals stalked a member of the WPI staff and assaulted him in the Higgins House parking lot." I don't believe that "stalked" is the correct term here. Somehow the members of the class of '96 got a tip that the goat was coming in at a specific time and place and they were there! Also according to the law, assault is verbally hurting someone (i.e. calling names and any act that inflicts 'mental anguish'). It is my understanding from reading the article by Jesse Parent in the September 26th edition and by talking to members of the class that were involved, nothing to this effect ever took place. The Goat's head arrived on campus and the class saw its opportunity for infamy and took it! "Gompei," as Jesse referred to him as, was never injured in the event; in fact it is rumored he was half-expecting someone from one of the classes to try and steal the Goat. This leads us to the alleged "theft". I don't believe that in this context that really is the correct term to use. The tradition of the Goat is that one class, either the Freshmen or the Sophomores, win this trophy by winning two out of the three rivalry events. The tradition does not stop there however; the class which holds the Goat must display it to all the classes so that they have a chance to "steal" the Goat. Therefore because "theft" in this scenario is allowable it is not a crime. This leads us to the charge of defacing property. According to the rules of the Goat, any class which steals it has the right to have their class year engraved on the trophy thus negating the charge of defacing property because, once again, according to the rules this IS a permissible act.
Moving on to the rest of the article I find it amusing that a person who is dead set against this tradition wished to help out on homecoming with the showing of the "illegally" obtained goat. This seems like a conflict of interest if you ask me. It has also been brought to my attention by numerous members of the senior class that a mass e-mail was sent to the entire class announcing numerous meeting times and places and encouraging anyone interested to attend. It was at these meetings that the "showing" was planned, is it fair to those who attended and planned the event that someone who didn't show the initiative was allowed to participate and change the plans that were already being set in motion? This leaves me questioning: is it the rivalry this person is against or was this column just written by a jaded person trying to get rid of a good thing because he/she wasn't able to be a part of it? Which brings us to the showing of the Goat at homecoming. According to the rules the Goat MUST be shown at homecoming!!! Wouldn't it have been a bit obvious if the entire senior class gathered at the end of the football field?!? And it would have been silly for anyone not involved in Skull or SAS to carry the banner because this once again would be rather obvious because they would have had to come out of the stands in order to run across the field while the members of SAS and Skull were already out there. Yes, the Alma Mater was disrupted, but that was not the fault of the senior class. It was SAS and Simple Harmonic motion who stopped singing, since the Alma Mater was never finished there was no need for applause, not to mention SAS does not sing the Alma Mater in an act of self gratification.
My question to the author is this: When was the last time you saw a group of 25-30 Juniors walking around campus together with one single goal while singing E to the X and cheering for their class? When was the last time you saw a group of Sophomores united in this manner? It happened Saturday afternoon after the rope pull. A scavenger hunt was set up by the senior class to give the sophomores (because they won the rope pull) and the juniors (because it's rightfully ours) a chance to "steal" the Goat. This scavenger hunt had us running all over campus trying to figure out obscure clues that had to do with history and student life on campus. These groups were comprised not only of SAS members, but ANYone in the class who wished to be a part of it. I would venture to guess that the majority of people who were in the junior group were not SAS members! I can honestly say that Saturday night when all was said and done I was proud to be a member of the Junior class and of the WPI community. What I don't understand is how some people can complain about the amount of apathy on campus, but then when a group does something that gets people interested and excited and proud to be at WPI, that same person shoots down the entire process. I say this because after reading this article I could venture a pretty accurate guess as to who wrote it! Let's stop thinking about "ME" and start thinking about "US", because that is what this has been boiled down to, one person who feels scorned because he/she wasn't allowed to "play" and thinks that nobody else should either, so let's break the toys!
A supporter of the Goat's head tradition, A dedicated SAS member. - And someone not afraid to sign her name to what she writes,
Jami (Class of '97)
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