On a normal night, you would be arrested for wearing nothing but your underwear in the Pru, yet this past Friday night, the cops encouraged it. On a normal night, you would be creeped out if a half naked stranger approached you, but on Friday night it was socially acceptable. On a normal night you only dream of jumping in the reflecting pool, but on Friday night you could finally cross that off your Northeastern bucket list. This Friday was no normal night at Northeastern; it was the annual underwear run.
Every year, Northeastern students anticipate the chance to drop down to their skivvies and run about campus, through Prudential, and make a final stop at the Christian Science Reflecting Pool. It may sound strange to people who don’t go to Northeastern, but this experience is something every student has to do at least once in their time here. Northeastern students bond over their mutual feelings of ridiculousness. As the students gather for the run, they are overwhelmed with husky pride (evident by the Northeastern cheers throughout the entire event). For this night, students unite to show off how bold the Huskies truly are and Boston surely takes notice.
The underwear run is great but unfortunately Northeastern has few other unique traditions like this. When I was a freshman, I asked some upperclassman friends about Northeastern traditions. Besides the Beanpot and the run, they couldn’t think of anything else. Northeastern needs to start creating more traditions that boost school pride. Northeastern students are undeniably hard workers, and amongst all the stress we sometimes lose sight of what makes this school great. The underwear run is an opportunity for students to cut loose from all the work and remember why we chose this school. If Northeastern has more spirit events, students would be less stressed and have far more school pride. There’s a lot to love about Northeastern like the fact that we have a campus in the city, awesome professors and of course the fabulous co-op program. However, certain quirky traditions are what makes your experience at a school truly unique. Northeastern needs more non-academic things to bond over. We need more spirit and more stress-relieving fun. We need more not-so-normal Friday nights! Any ideas huskies?