Unofficial IU rituals

IU is embedded with traditions of an "official" variety such as, Freshman Induction, Midnight Madness and Little 500. While these University sanctioned rituals help make IU what it is, the day to day life of the undergraduate deals more with those "unofficial" rituals which seemingly have sprouted up like weeds over the course of time. Like weeds, no one really knows how they got there, why they proliferate and what makes them impossible to exterminate. They just seem to exist. \nHow did it come to pass that second semester juniors are seemingly no longer allowed on campus and must travel abroad? Why is the freshman vacation ritual a trip, with somewhere from four to forty classmates per room in Cancun, Mexico? How does everyone who knew to go to Cancun freshman year know to go to Acapulco sophomore year? Why is it that the "parking police" only patrol on the days when you're late for class or your car will not start? How did the proper time for ordering pizza from Rockit's become 3 a.m.? How did we determine that the appropriate decoration for everyone's dorm room must contain a set of plastic yaffa blocks? What is it about freshman year that requires all of us to gain 15 pounds and then spend the next three years trying to shed it? Why is the standard attire for every girl, attending one of the many "watering holes" in Bloomington, black pants? Where has the ritual come from that underclassman know their "place" to hang out does not include Nick's?\nThese "unofficial rituals" are the result of one thing: We're more comfortable with expected conformity. From the limited psychology I've learned thus far, we get some mental comfort from "old familiar ways" shared by our peers. Rituals, official, or more importantly unofficial, give us the comfort of fitting in. Upon having this epiphany, I began to think that perhaps we could use a few "new unofficial rituals" here at IU: \n1. From now on, only freshmen will have classes on the third floor of Ballentine Hall and be subjected to walk up the incredibly torturous stairway. \n2. No matter what schedule you register for, you'll have an excused absence from any Friday class if you have the official stamp from Thursday night's outing to either Sports, Kilroy's or Nick's.\n3. Sororities can start having parties and fraternities must be fumigated at least once a month.\n4. There is a 10-second time limit for any bouncer at any bar in Bloomington to establish the authenticity of an ID card. After that you are automatically admitted.\n5. There will be a plethora of free IU apparel handed out by bouncers as you leave the bar for those of us who are in desperate need of clothing attire anticipating the "walk of shame" …\nAs with existing rituals, these new rituals can help enrich our time here at IU or, at the very least, provide some additional psychic comfort. After all, aren't rituals really our societal sanctioned mechanism to make us a little more comfortable? On second thought, maybe we need to do away with them to promote our individuality regardless of the stress … Nah!