This is the most amusing news I’ve read all day. Apparently, MIT awards Pirate certificates (and has been doing so for a number of years).

Any student who passes courses in pistol, archery, sailing and fencing are considered a pirate, according to the MIT Department of Athletics, Physical Education & Recreation, who began issuing official certificates last fall.

So far, six students have reached elite pirate status, receiving pieces of faux parchment authorized by the “swashbucklin’” MIT, certifying that the named “salty dog” is entitled to a Pirate Certificate “with all its privileges and obligations thereof.”

Read more at The Boston Globe.