The Inanimate Objects Party (IOP) is a joke political party at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, United States. The IOP has been an RPI tradition since 1997. The party's main candidate is Arthur Galpin, an inflatable whale, who runs for Grand Marshal, and other positions. The other major candidate is Alby the Albino Squirrel, an albino squirrel that lived at RPI and now occasionally runs for President of the Union. The fork is a symbol of the IOP.