Wake up

By Nicholas Weiss

For as long as I have attended Santa Clara, it has been custom to act as the twit yelling, "Wake up, Swig!" whenever the appropriate temporal and spatial conditions present themselves.

Recently, however, several friends of mine have been cited for this noise violation and have been required to pay hellish tolls, which consist of writing a paper on why what they did was wrong, doing community service and other similar reprimands. It seems this tradition is now considered hazing by Santa Clara Campus Safety.

I can't imagine how the school administration could have come to this conclusion, though apparently, harping parents had a role to play. In comparison to the innocuous hazing taking place around Swig, the daily noise violations caused by disrupting lawn mowers and elevator repairs are much more intrusive and concerning.

The Santa Clara Student Life Community Handbook states that "quiet hours (sound level confined to one's room) are in effect from 11 p.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. Friday and Saturday." I write this piece at 1:45 a.m. because what seems to be an entire Swiss-style volleyball tournament right outside of my window makes it impossible for me to sleep.

But this is not what distresses me most -- not once this year can I recall a morning that hasn't been peppered with the sounds of gardeners, movers, mechanics, or other general disturbances. While I wouldn't normally wake up on my own before 10 a.m., one of the school employees usually helps me out with that. And while it has been proven in numerous studies that people who eat a healthy breakfast tend to do better in school, weigh less and be more alert throughout the day, some of us prefer to sleep in.

I do not want these midnight volleyballers or these morning mechanics to be punished or banned from our building. I would prefer that the school change its broken glass perspective on harmless fun like yelling "Wake Up, Swig" and instead adopt a more Beatles-like approach -- let it be.

After all, we're in college, not a church, and I would like the liberty to carry on tradition and yell "Wake up, Swig," without being accused of disturbing the peace.

Nicholas Weiss is a sophomore psychology and philosophy double major.