Who's Got the Goat?

By Katrina Hildebrand '05

He is WPI's most popular alumnus--and its most enduring and endearing. Over a century old, he's long been the center of student and alumni attention. And now he's missing!

Last seen at the Rope Pull at Homecoming 2001, the university's beloved mascot--in the form of an ungainly bronze sculpture known as the Goat's Head--is the focus of an intense goathunt. A caprine co-op (aptly called the Goat's Head Committee) has been formed of students, staff, and alumni who have been working diligently to locate the metal ruminant.

The Goat's Head tradition began when the Class of 1893 gave charge of its black goat mascot to Gompei Kuwada, a student from Japan, whose initials deigned him goatkeeper. After the goat died, its head was stuffed and mounted. Decades later, students in the Class of 1928 made the head the object of a class rivalry to increase school spirit. They replaced the original with a disproportionately large head cast in bronze.

The competition focused on the freshman and sophomore classes. Points were given to the winners of such events as the Tech Carnival, Paddle Rush, and Rope Pull; the class with the most points got the Goat. The winning class was obligated to display the Goat once a year, giving the other class a chance to capture it for themselves. Over the years, the Goat has made some memorable appearances: suspended from a helicopter that buzzed a home football game, dropped from Earle Bridge into a moving convertible, and hung in Alumni Gym during a basketball game before being tossed out a window to waiting students.

At times the rivalry became too violent, and in 1995 a set of rules was designed to make the events safer and the Goat's location easier to monitor. But these rules could not prevent the latest goatnapping.

To keep the rivalry alive, the committee is considering what it will do should the Goat's Head not turn up anytime soon. One possibility is to cast a new goat, but for now committee members are continuing the search, putting their own heads together in hope of finding the missing one. For more information about the search, or to provide details that you think might help in the recovery of the Goat's Head, visit the Goat's Head Committee Web site, or e-mail goat@wpi.edu.

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Last modified: Sep 20, 2004, 08:41 EDT