Every year around Halloween, Rice University's Wiess College throws a party
called the Night of Decadence. Instead of traditional costumes, students wear as little as possible. Although there are always
several people creatively attired in Saran Wrap or fishnet stockings and pasties, the traditional costume is boxers for men, and
bra and panties for women. The theme of the event is always sexual (e.g. James Bondage, Lust In Space), alcoholic beverages are
freely available and sexually explicit materials decorate the Wiess College commons. For these reasons, the party is a polarizing
event on the Rice University campus. Although it still exists, the decorations have become more conservative in recent years.On the other hand NOD doesn't stand for "Night of Decency", either.A common (though apocryphal and unvalidated) campus tradition holds that in the 1970s,
NOD was ranked by
Playboy magazine as one
of the best campus parties in the country.