History
The IOP started out strong in 1997, in protest to a variety of issues across campus including the requirements all students be required to use Microsoft Windows. The campaign began using the logo of the fork, an inanimate object which is honest and dependable. Soon thereafter, Rob "r0b" Colonna, obtained a seven-foot inflatable whale named Arthur Galpin to serve as their candidate. The IOP is perhaps best known for their satirical posters, which anyone can print out and distribute. In 2002, the IOP protested the beginning of the laptop program at RPI. The IOP posted numerous protest-art fliers and banners at high-trafficked areas around campus: some depicted a check from RPI to Bill Gates, others a degree in “Bachelor of Windows”, others simply decried "Unix or Death". According to an IOP bulletin, Arthur was born in 1993, weighs 3.5 pounds, and is "known to carry toast and duct tape". "Toast" is a reference to an earlier IOP event called the "VCC toasting", during which toast was thrown at the VCC in protest of the laptop program.
According to legend, Arthur has actually won the election several times, but the Rules and Elections commission refused to accept the vote. In 2006 a Rules and Elections (RNE) officer claimed that Arthur Galpin only received "one vote". Actual results in 2006 show "write-ins", which include Arthur Galpin and Alby, comprised 6.9% in the primary elections. In 2007, Arthur impregnated a few visiting whales, whose baby whales quickly overtook the campus. Fortunately students were able to capture them and return them to the Student Union. On April 1, 2009, Arthur appeared on the roof of the CII, the highest building on campus. On April 1, 2010, a baby whale appeared on the DCC roof and for about ten minutes the word "ARTHUR" was spelled vertically with posters on the front windows of the of the CII.
Read more about this topic: Inanimate Objects Party
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