Editor's Note 4: Free Hugs?

If you read last week's editor's note about Chai's-as if anyone notices this little weekly square-I promised to never challenge you, unlike our daily columnists. I apologize for the hypocrisy, but I can't let this rant stay confined in my throat.

There was a group of students, partially organized by a good friend of mine Angela Vo-holla at my peanut butter-that stood on the plaza on Sept. 10 looking to "hug it out" as Ari Gold would say. Entourage references aside, the willingness for students to put themselves in a vulnerable position all in glorious celebration of Free Hug Day is pretty bold and, at the very least, admirable.

However, rather than reverence, the revelers ran into revulsion-the alliteration was too good to ignore. Students often ignored and sometimes guffawed the prospect of a free hug. Clearly germaphobes won't be peachy keen with clinging close to a stranger's body, but that only accounts for a miniscule percentage of the Duke populace-unless I have fell asleep and woke up in a Monk-tonian Dukeiverse.

The usual reason for dodging an embrace involves some combination of class, homework and other G.P.A-related B.S. After extensive scientific research with Ms. Vo, it was determined that a hug lasts from a very brief single second to a creepily long five seconds. And if you don't have five seconds to spare, you have other issues that a hug simply wouldn't solve.

At a school where some students' physical interaction is limited to high fives over Guitar Hero, or grinding up on someone of the opposite gender at Shooters II, a hug is necessary. It is something that provides an intimate connection without involving any level of sexuality or other dirtiness. I won't judge you if you ducked a hug last Monday-I leave that to those worthy enough to grace the editorial pages-but, as a former Free Hug avoider, it's nice to think twice when a stranger offers you a simple squeeze.