Violent reaction confounds Baker 13 runner

For more than three decades, a zany Rice tradition has filled the air with the musty smell of shaving cream and the campus with mostly naked students. Some people run Baker 13, some light-heartedly defend themselves from it and some hide in their rooms with the blinds closed. Then there are those people who decide to attempt to injure the runners — their obviously unarmed fellow students. And, I am disgusted to say, the latter category’s numbers are growing.

I want to know why these people are allowed to continue their excessive behavior run after run. I want to know what happened to the campus police escort that used to ensure the safety of the runners. But most of all, I want to know why attacks on Baker 13 runners are taking place at all.

Perhaps these attackers believe they are in danger and that they are defending themselves. Then again, a Baker 13 runner armed only with a can of shaving cream is not dangerous enough to warrant the use of baseball bats and lacrosse sticks. Nor should it be necessary to heave trashcans, bottles or pumpkins at the runners. Even those who just use water balloons but purposefully under-fill them, triple-pack them or throw them at point-blank range can still inflict harm.

Two other possible motives seem far more likely. One is that these people believe having the most physically dangerous defense proves their college is superior to Baker itself and to all the other defending colleges. If this is the case, I sincerely hope these people will realize assault does not make for college superiority.

The other possible motivation is that these people intend to terrorize the runners in the hopes of giving Baker 13 a reputation as unsafe, thereby thinning the numbers of runners and perhaps, eventually, shutting the event down for good. But this strategy would be flawed because Baker 13 can exist with as few as two or three runners — it has done so before. Besides, I can guarantee that there are more than enough runners who refuse to be terrorized into quitting, who will keep Baker 13 alive and well long after these assailants are gone.

The question of “why” aside, the most important question becomes “Where did this come from?” Did Rice suddenly begin accepting people who can be provoked to assault simply by nudity? I certainly cannot reconcile these events with the view of the intellectual, enlightened society I used to think existed at Rice. I was under the apparently misguided illusion that the harshest actions taken by Rice students against their fellow peers were the angry words sometimes written in an opinion column.

Despite my hostile feelings against the perpetrators of these horrendous actions, I am not out for vengeance. I wish only to ensure this sort of thing does not happen again. I simply beseech these people to stop. No one running Baker 13 intends anyone physical harm. And if you truly believe that running around naked is an offense worthy of physical retaliation, perhaps your time might be better spent in an anger management class than on your college balcony, baseball bat in hand.

William Massie is a Wiess College junior.

Back to top