MIT's known for pranks, or hacks, against rival school Harvard (and sometimes even on their own campus). Their latest hack today enhances the John P. Harvard statue with a battle-ready Master Chief Spartan helmet and assault rifle (with a bullet count of 2E) in honor of Halo day. Other notable, and perhaps more difficult, hacks include assembling a painted MIT Campus Police car on top of their great dome, assembling a MIT Fire Department truck on their great dome, and a gigantic Triforce on top of the great dome. If they somehow got the Harvard Master Chief statue on top of their great dome, we'd declare this the best hack ever. [MIT]
DISCUSSION
@Sean: From the wiki: 'All of the modern meanings seem to be rooted in its widespread use as slang throughout the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), starting in the 1960s. There, the original meaning of "hack" was a quick, elaborate and/or "jerry rigged" solution, students devised for technical obstacle; it was used with hacker, meaning one who discovers and implements a hack. The word itself comes from the German word meaning "someone who makes furniture with an axe", implying a lack of finesse in a "hack"; it is believed by many in the hacking community, that the reason for this is because, programs too large to run on the limited computer resources of the time, had portions "chopped" or "hacked" out in order to be reduced to a more reasonable size.'