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Passing out with shoes on
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Passing out with shoes on is a college tradition in the United States which subjects one to various forms of harassment, typically involving being drawn on. The phenomenon also has legal significance in determining standing under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution to challenge an Unreasonable Search and Seizure based on one's status as an overnight guest. College tradition "Do Not Pass Out With Your Shoes On" is Rule 19 of College 101, which explains that: "if you wake up in bed with your shoes on, you have passed out. This gives your friends free to 'shame' you. Trust us—this is very bad news. So kick off your shoes before calling it a night, and you will wake up the next morning without black Sharpie graffiti all over your face (or an embarrassing nickname to live down)." Ethan Clark in his memoir describes living in "the kind of house where you don't want to pass out with your shoes on (because that would mean that, in keeping with tradition, everyone still awake would have no choice but to write obscenities and draw penises all over you)." Legal significance The District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Hill v. United States (1995) held that the defendants did not establish Fourth Amendment standing as overnight guests because it deemed their assertion that they were overnight guests unbelievable because the defendants entered the residence at 3 a.m., minutes before the police, and one “was feigning sleep while fully dressed and still wearing his shoes." The court described the facts as follows: :"Once in the apartment, the officers approached the man who was still sitting on the couch (who was later identified as appellant Ellis) and frisked him. The officers asked Harrell if anyone else was in the apartment (the other two women were still in the front room). Harrell said yes, and led them to the back room, where appellant Hill was lying on a bed, wearing street clothes (including his shoes) and pretending to be asleep."<ref name="hillvus"/>
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