Factlet (7)

Conundrum Along the Charles

   The last factlet for this year is this one: In order to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology you have to pass a swim test. After making it through the admission process and completing four years as a double-major in aerospace and planetary science, you still are required to plunge into the pool. The covid has created quite a conundrum since one can't go swimming. 

   Apparently mandatory swim tests were introduced because of the many drownings during World War II. While the test is no longer a requirement at many universities, one still has to pass it at some of the Ivies. Cornell, Dartmouth and Columbia decided to waive the tests because of covid.
   MIT didn't. Instead one has to take a "conceptual swim test." Some students found the class, which stretches around four hours in one session, grueling -- especially since swimming the actual test would normally take about 10 minutes.

   If you are an MIT freshman with a fear of the water you may be thinking about taking the aquatic Zoom class. But, the officials have ruled that only seniors can take the virtual version.

The Bonus: Nudity at the Ivies

   Years ago incoming freshmen (and women at some of the affiliated Seven Sisters colleges) were required to be photographed naked. This meant that a large number of photos of the nation's most elite members were found piled in stacks on campuses in New England. 

Sources:

   I am sure you are most interested in the nudity. All you need is this Wikipedia entry:  "Ivey League Nude Posture Photos." More details are found here: "The Naked Truth About Yale's Posture Problem."

The pictures ended up at the Smithsonian and were destroyed in 1995.

   About the swimming see: "At MIT, Swim Like Your Degree Depends on it - Covid Sends School's Famous Aquatics Requirement Online," Jem Bartholomew, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 30, 2020.

   For an example, see Cornell's swim test requirements. 

   I don't know what the swimming situation is like at Canadian universities, but I did find that if one wants to swim in the deep end and use the Tarzan rope in the Trent Athletics Centre, a test is required.

The First Factlet: What's A Gee-Gee. 

I am not sure if one has to swim at the 'Canadian Ivies'.