MIT Prank - Heralding Death of a Tradition?

Students at MIT are, by reputation, a bit like Curious George - yes, the little brown monkey with the yellow-hatted friend. Curiosity and mischief rule. Once upon a time, during a campus tour with my father, our MIT guide spoke with some pride of the pranks ("hacks") played by students.

Administrators would return after a long weekend to find fully functional telephone booths mounted atop buildings. A football field (Harvard's) would erupt as a balloon rose from beneath ground - a carefully placed M, I and T displayed for the crowd. And, if you believe the folks at http://hacks.mit.edu/, a fire truck has been found atop the Great Dome.

Outrageous. Amazing. Great fun.

So, it with some regret that I post a link to this Boston Globe story. It seems that the current administration is, perhaps, less tolerant of such mischief than those prior.

According to the Globe, "three students face up to 20 years in prison if they are convicted of felony charges of breaking and entering and trespassing."

There may be more here than has been reported, or it could simply be that the students in question broke the one unwritten rule of MIT hacks -- Don't get caught.