The LineLeap back-to-school bar crawl sent hundreds of thirsty Penn Staters marching in downtown State College on Saturday night.

Teaming up with friends to drink from dawn to dusk is a classic college experience, but even when I found myself buzzed off a handful of beverages, I couldn’t help but push back against the idea of charging a cover for those who had already purchased a bar crawl T-shirt. While I acknowledge not all the bars do this, I think it’s hugely exploitative that any do.

Allow me to paint the picture. Around 4 p.m., my friends and I decided to rotate from Brothers Bar & Grill to Cafe 210. After standing in line for about 20 minutes, a Cafe employee began walking down the line, arrogantly shouting to everyone that there would be a $5 cover charge.

Firstly, that defeats the entire purpose of buying a shirt, as LineLeap specifically says your T-shirt will serve as a cover for all the places listed on the back. So, forgive me if my journalism-based education is failing me, but if the 100% polyester T-shirt I bought for $30 is my cover for all the downtown bars listed on the back of it, and Cafe 210 was indeed listed on the back of it, why on God’s green earth am I paying a cover?

I get it, capitalism, blah blah blah. But there is no operational excuse to take advantage of (legally) plastered college students who already operate on limited funds and simply want to be included in the back-to-school tradition. The surge in foot traffic that bar crawls create is unfathomable, and you damn sure aren’t providing legitimate live music acts. So why be greedy?

Doggie’s Pub also demanded a cover charge from my friends and me, but they won’t catch any heat because, for some reason (wanting to milk everyone for more money), they chose not to opt in to the bar crawl T-shirt.

More reasonably, places like Brothers, Champs, and the Phryst implemented a cover charge toward the end of the night, but that still doesn’t sit right with me.

Downtown State College has so many bars, some more niche than others, but there’s beauty in that. Each has its own attractions and quirks, so why wouldn’t we embrace that and encourage patrons to visit as many places as they can during a bar CRAWL? It’s literally in the name.

My ultimate message to downtown bars: If we have the T-shirt, you shouldn’t charge us. The T-shirt already costs money, and buying drinks at each stop adds up quickly. So for just a few Saturdays each semester, drop the profit-maxxing and embrace something that brings the entire community together.