While walking to my 10:30 a.m. lecture last Monday morning blasting the classic hits of Hall and Oates in my headphones and attempting to stay warm in the unbearable Iowa cold, something caught my eye.

At first, I didn’t believe what I was witnessing. But as I got closer, my eyes were unfortunately proven right. I saw a group of what appeared to be three students walking into the Biology Building, all wearing merch from different state universities.

One was donning a navy and orange Illinois hoodie that presented the classic block “I” logo front and center, while another was repping a bright red Wisconsin Badgers beanie. The final member of the crew was supporting, of all the teams in the world, the Michigan Wolverines by draping a bright blue and maize starter jacket over her shoulders as she sashayed into a science classroom.

Seeing this ridiculous collection of Big Ten clothing on Iowa students made my chili run red hot, and even as I trotted off to class, I couldn’t shake the traumatic image from my mind.

Now, I understand I am a uniquely proud Hawkeye and the University of Iowa undergraduate population contains students from all sorts of geographic backgrounds. With those backgrounds come local allegiances and familial support for specific schools and teams. However, I believe if you are a tuition-paying student of the UI, while on campus and around Iowa City, you should only wear Hawkeye merch to show support and bolster pride for your institution — or at least to make my negative 10-degree walk to class slightly more palatable.

I am well aware this is an unpopular opinion, especially since the UI has a large swath of students reigning from states where multiple Big Ten universities preside, like Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana. But it pains me every day to see people wear clothing from schools they don’t attend just because they’re from that given state or because they had a passionate uncle or obscure cousin “go there.”

This notion isn’t necessarily a novel concept, with other students on campus sharing similar beliefs like current fourth-year student Nicole Quist.

The Texas native and environmental science major believes it can be somewhat jarring to see Iowa students rocking non-UI clothing, especially when walking around Iowa City. She also thinks that “by wearing other Big Ten school’s merch on campus, it tends to dampen this community we have worked so hard to build here at Iowa.”

Similarly, other students are more bothered by specific types of school merch being worn rather than upset by the general act of someone wearing random college gear.

Fourth-year student Ethan Umina claims, “if I saw someone wearing a Rutgers shirt I’m not gonna care, because…it’s Rutgers. But when I see someone in Nebraska or Iowa State stuff, I just assume they are desperate for attention. They have to know wearing rival stuff around campus will catch peoples’ attention, and I think that’s kind of what they want. And that’s what bothers me the most: the lack of care and the dismissal of one’s own school pride.”

Now I recognize school merch can be expensive, and oftentimes “gold” isn’t everyone’s first choice of color. But I feel that if you’re going to wear college merch, you might as well represent your own school. And as the Beach Boys said in their 1963 classic hit, “Be true to your school and let your colors fly,” or else you might find your pride and identity lost amid your winter wardrobe.