What began as an effort to change the image of the self-avowed nerds of the Linux Users Group (LUG) at Washington State University evolved nearly overnight into a fundraiser for something much larger.

The LUG’s nerd auction, “Nerdy and the Greek,” attracted international media attention. Over 250 people attended the event, held in October, and approximately $3,000 in gifts and pledges was raised for the establishment of an endowment for “Women in Computer Science” that will fund scholarships and efforts to recruit more women to major in computer science at the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Several nerds from the LUG handed themselves over to the women from two WSU sororities for a complete makeover, including hair and clothes. Yoga lessons and an etiquette dinner were also part of the week’s agenda. The newly fashioned nerds were then auctioned off to the general public, for homework help, computer help, or a dinner date. The makeovers were filmed and shown at the dinner and auction.

“We are a computer club and as such, we've got a reputation for being the dude holed up in his basement lit up by the glow of his monitor,” Ben Ford, 31, President of LUG said. “That's not true at all. We’re ordinary people; we’ve got other interests and love to have fun. We want to show that to everybody else.”

But that isn’t the only problem the members of LUG want to address.

Enrollment figures for women in computer science at WSU are less than five percent, and while the group is not expecting a sudden spike in those figures due to their efforts, they are hoping that the visibility and the image that computer science is fun and interesting—and not just for nerdy guys—will draw more women into computer science careers.

The group hopes to make the Nerd Auction an annual event. If you would like to make a gift to the “Women in Computer Science’’ endowment, contact Jody Opheim, assistant development director in the School of EECS, (509) 335-6456, opheim@wsu.edu.