COLUMN: Streakers, duct tape – The USU life
This weekend, a girl I once thought to be one of my good friends from home brazenly challenged me on my choice of college. Though she has never attended USU, she is thoroughly convinced of its inferiority in comparison to her choice of university. As you might guess, she is a student and die-hard supporter of all things church school. She never misses a chance to try and convince me to leave my heathen ways and join her in the wonderful, religiously educational experience that she calls the Y of I, a.k.a. Brigham Young University, Idaho.
She even threw in the not-so-catchy phrase, “Once you go church school, you never go back,” which, though I disagree, I thought was a nice touch anyway. Even though my loyalties reside completely with USU at this time, I commend those who have so bravely admitted their closet BYU-fan tendencies in recently published columns. And, when it comes to the topic of what some may refer to as “the Lord’s university,” I must point out that I definitely don’t hate, I appreciate.
I’m sure that only good can come from attending any of those fine institutions, but is it possible that there are some good things that you just can’t accomplish with church school-type restrictions? Take, for example, helping the homeless. Yes, helping the homeless could, in fact, be hindered by the Honor Code. Recently, USU students banded together to benefit this very cause by, among other activities, spending the night as if homeless on the Quad.
I will admit that since I wasn’t so well-informed on the event, my contribution consisted entirely of staying up all night outside, but I sure hope some sort of benefits could be reaped as a result of my hard work and sacrifice that night. One highlight, or perhaps lowlight, of the night was the three infamous streakers who just happened to run ridiculously too close to me and my friends. I know that I, and most likely a few others, can say I saw a lot more than I would have liked to and the credit for that should probably go to the spotlighter. I don’t believe that person was hired by the streakers, so I guess that’s what the get for thinking they could get away with streaking in the dark. Ha ha.
When I mentioned that little happening to my BYU-I friend, she pointed out that she will gladly continue to sacrifice wearing capris and flip flops in exchange for protection against potential streakers. For those unaware, BYU-I has made flip flops and capris off-limits in order to create a more professional campus atmosphere, so one can imagine the devastation a streaker could cause.
But I suppose there are both pros and cons to having so few restrictions placed on us. Take, for example, no curfew. Though good things like helping the homeless can be done at all hours of the night, believe it or not, bad things can also be accomplished at those times. I doubt most people would attempt to duct tape someone’s door shut if they had to do it before midnight.
By the slight chance that this particular thing has never happened to you, I can assure you that it is an odd feeling to be completely unable to leave your room when you wake up in the morning. The possible explanations that ran though my mind as I was lying in bed while my sister tried to open the door were in no way reasonable. Was the door frozen shut? Has my sister lost the strength necessary to open the door? Thankfully, we were able to use another exit and soon discover the real explanation for the unusable door. We’ve since learned that no good can come from boys wandering around in the middle of the night, especially if they happen to have ridiculous amounts of duct tape along with them.
Streakers and boys who duct tape doors shut are only the beginning of the things we have to put up with as a result of having so much freedom at this school. You never know what is going to happen and that’s just the way I like it.
Lindsay Kite is a freshman majoring in print journalism. With questions, comments or duct-tape revenge techniques, contact lindsaykite@cc.usu.edu.