New student week is long gone and the class of 2012 has been on campus for almost a month. I’m sure by now they’ve heard complaints about the stereotypical party-seeking freshman clusters.

It’s an ongoing problem with the overzealous newly freed campus dwellers, but with all the security measures and on/off campus “fun-police,” one would think after the 20th party got busted they would learn.

False.

On Saturday night herds of freshmen were wandering the streets near campus in desperate search for a certain frat party or two.

The flocks were huge, loud, quite confused and fully recognizable to the patrolling cops. I don’t mean to single out freshmen because I know not everyone makes this rookie mistake. But if you actually want to make it to an off-campus party, take this as a lesson for next weekend.

Don’t pre-game so hard that you lose control over the volume of your voice. Don’t, by any means, loiter in the front lawn. Don’t freak out when a police car rolls around. Don’t yell obscenities at the cops. All these rules were broken by several gaggles of freshmen on Saturday, so don’t do it again.

Instead, just casually walk in the opposite direction of the party. Cross the street if you have to. Just don’t make the mistake of leading Evanston or Northwestern’s finest straight to your party destination.

Heed these words of wisdom and make the upcoming off-campus festivities run more smoothly than the past few disasters. Don’t feel too bad, though. Everyone was a rookie once.