Free for a week

I can't concentrate. I don't want to study and it takes every single bit of strength I have to sit through my classes without screaming uncontrollably. But in less than a week, I'll be far from this little campus with its crowded sidewalks and suffocating classrooms. Two little words have kept me going through the long winter months of trekking to class through foot-high snow drifts and busting my butt on frozen sidewalks. You're excited, too. It's spring break. \nAs college students, these words have, for most of us, become our saving grace. Many of you, like me, will be taking advantage of next week to get the hell out of Indiana and cruise to a more hospitable, tropical locale. Road trips, cheap hotels and all the sun a body can stand -- these have become the hallmark of a great spring break.\nWhile sun, sand and barely-there bathing suits are all part of the coming week, there's another aspect of spring break I would like to bring to your attention. Recognize this as more than just a break from classes and jobs. For a whole week, you get to be out from under the thumb of local law enforcement. You are being blessed with time without watchful eyes and unmarked cars tearing through the streets in search of dangerous, drunken students. That's right, freedom!\nIf you've been to any kind of party during your tenure at IU, you know what I'm saying. It seems like drinking in Bloomington has become an unforgivable sin, punishable by nights in the drunk tank and steep fines for pretrial diversion. This isn't so in other, far-off parts of the college world. In other parts of the country, people realize kids drink. And it isn't considered to be an evil that must be stopped at all costs in order to preserve righteousness and goodness. Drinking responsibly isn't even an option here, as many students have found out. \nIn this town, you never know when some undercover agent for the local war on alcohol is going to come rushing into a house like it's an FBI drug bust, looking for underage students with beer on their breath.\nWalking home from bars has become a dangerous option. Not to mention walking back to a dorm; if you aren't caught by the cops on the walk back, there's more than a fair chance some RA will get the job done.\nWhile I'm not condoning drinking oneself into a coma, I think I speak for a good majority of the student population when I say the rules and regulations surrounding drinking have become a little ridiculous. I mean special equipment at bars for detecting whether an ID is a fake? I hardly think fake ID's are holy terrors, infiltrating Bloomington and putting college students on the highway to hell.\nThe recent student elections even took this point into consideration, as all the campaigns took a stance on this issue and vowed to loosen the noose around our necks.\nSo, the point of my rambling is during spring break we're being given a chance to do what every other college student in the country can do without fear every weekend of the year. If we're going to escape the tight limits we've been placed under, let's prove IU students can survive a week of freedom.