With shopping period slowly approaching its terminus and the pressure to actually sit down and open that $120 course packet begins to mount, we at scene feel that it’s only within the spirit of all things Yale to lament this abrupt loss of academic freedom. And by “academic freedom” we mean an opportunity to skip class with impunity.

Fret not, however, for while the end of shopping period brings with it the requirement of turning in an “immutable” schedule with “classes” and the signature of your “adviser,” it needn’t be the end of an academic’s shopaholic lifestyle.

Remember, just because you’re not “officially enrolled” in that starred class doesn’t mean you can’t still attend, needle the prof with your endless misguided questions, and indulgently sit in the professor co-pilot seat at the seminar table while your fellow classmates slowly acquire a full-blown case of scoliosis from sitting on the floor.

Likewise, feel free to wander in and out of classes — both those in which you’re enrolled and those in which you have no interest whatsoever (Hey, what’s up Anthro?). Like the Ost Berliners of yore, Yalies should be proud to vote with their feet walking out of the classroom (with an appropriate head-shake) whenever a professor states an idea you disagree with. Fans of this pastime should swarm to anything taught by Bracken, Hill or Gaddis … or any course listing beginning “WGSS.”

Remember, too, that weekday nights offer a myriad of more entertaining venues than Sterling or your budget IKEA common room. One need not wean oneself off the quality foodstuffs and drink specials consumed in abundance during the first few weeks of the semester. Rather, celebrate an attended section with a drink, a slice of mediocre A-1 pizza or a morsel of Ivy Noodle botulism.

Above all, remember that the choice to curb your shopping lifestyle is yours and yours alone. With dedication, a Yale by the shoppers, of the shoppers and for the shoppers shall not perish from this earth!