Well, fellow Bearcats, administrators have found another way to rob us of our fun. But this time, we have to take a stand. This time, they’re trying to hit us where it hurts. This time, they’re attacking a BU institution — senior Bar Crawl.

Yes, that’s right. Apparently the SUNY chancellor has heard about our humble little ritual of stumbling along Main Street to Court Street to State Street in celebration of the end of our academic careers, and he seems to think it doesn’t quite fit the image the SUNY system should be projecting.

So, naturally, our own administration has suddenly remembered how harmful and improper it finds the age-old event to be and has decided it may be time to put a stop to it.

Luckily, there’s not much they can do. Aside from forcing the Senior Class Council (the organization which plans and sponsors the event) to remove the Bar Crawl and assorted pub logos from the mugs and t-shirts, they’re pretty powerless when it comes to the event.

The real issue here isn’t that the University is trying to discourage student drinking — they’ve always tried to do that. The real problem is that administrators want to end the one real tradition BU has.

We don’t have an established football (or really any other sports) team that all students rally around, we don’t have ridiculously old buildings with tons of funny stories and rumors to be passed down from year to year, and we don’t have any long-standing traditions or events which the students can look forward to without fail … except Bar Crawl.

Sure, the administration is promising to come up with some other fun-filled activities to replace the day (and night) of bar-hopping. But somehow we just don’t think the macaroni necklaces and soap sculptures we’d be making in the University Union would cut it.

And though we really hate to point fingers (insert evil chuckle here), it has to be noted that the University doesn’t seem to mind capitalizing on a bit of impropriety when they stand to gain something. Remember the slogan for Homecoming ’06? No? We’ll remind you: “What happens in Vegas comes to BU.” Now, maybe President Lois B. DeFleur and her administrator buddies know of a different Vegas, but for us, it’s a city that conjures up images of gambling, prostitution and overall debauchery.

Which of course is fine to advocate … as long as no one is having a few beers at a Downtown bar while gambling with the hookers?

Basically BU, this is a cause too dear to all of our hearts for us to let it go. We’ll fight to the end, so why not make things easy from the start and let Bar Crawl be?

P.S.: Should the proverbial shit hit the fan and the University attempts to crack down, we’ll be here to report on it every step of the way and ensure that they stay within their boundaries, and we’re left with out rights intact.

P.P.S: Oh, and Senior Class Council: if you have to change the logos on those mugs, we recommend putting “BU class of 2007” on one side, and stamping “Not For Beer” on the other side. Just a suggestion.