Raider Rash

“Raider Rash” is a nickname for an allegedly large number of sexually transmitted diseases at Texas Tech University in Lubbock (called the “Red Raiders”). Articles about STDs and Texas Tech appeared by at least 2003 and “Raider rash” is cited from at least 2005.
 
Another name for “Raider Rash” is “Lubbock clap.”
     
   
Wikipedia: Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University is a public, coeducational research university located in Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the sixth largest student body in the state of Texas. With 1,839 acres (7.44 km²), it has the second largest contiguous campus in the United States and is the only school in Texas to house an undergraduate institution, law school, and medical school at the same location.
 
The Texas Tech Red Raiders are members of the Big 12 Conference and compete in Division I for all varsity sports. The Red Raiders football team has made 31 bowl appearances, which is 19th most of any university. The men’s basketball team has made 14 appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament. Bob Knight, the winningest coach in men’s NCAA D-1 basketball history, served as the team’s head coach from 2001 to 2008. The Lady Raiders women’s basketball team won the 1993 women’s national championship. 
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Athletics
Texas Tech’s men’s athletic teams are all known as the Red Raiders. The women’s athletic teams are known as the Lady Raiders. Texas Tech is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in Division I-A. The university was a member of the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1932 to 1956. Texas Tech became a member of the Southwest Athletic Conference in May 1956 and remained so until the conference was disbanded in 1995.
 
Urban Dictionary
1.  Raider Rash
Raider Rash is a slang term for STDs; since Texas Tech University is known for its high STD rate (one in four people have STDs at Texas Tech,) and its mascot is the “Red Raider.”
Kristi got drunk at a party; then she decided to have unprotected sex, and now she has gotten the Raider Rash.
by LBK Jew May 6, 2006
 
2.  Raider Rash
Does not exist. Its a rumor that started because people will believe anything they hear. Texas tech STD rate is about 5% a year which is consistent with all the other Big 12 schools.
“Did you say Raider Rash? Come on man that shits not true.”
by Bizzy winnin Apr 6, 2008
 
Daily Toreador (Texas Tech)
STDs pose problems for Tech, Lubbock
Beth Aaron
Issue date: 9/29/03 Section: Local News
A Student Health Services and Communication Studies at Texas Tech has started handing out surveys in classrooms throughout campus, questioning students about their health.
 
Juli Benson, health educator for Student Health Services, said since physicians at Thompson Hall’s main job is to take care of students, there is not much attention paid to statistical information about sexually transmitted diseases and other wellness issues college students deal with.
 
“We are administering a health survey this year to keep track of this information,” she said.
 
Dr. Miguel Villarreal, staff physician for Student Health Services, said Tech has more of a problem with STDs than other universities of its size.
 
“Lubbock, Texas, has a high prevalence of STDs,” he said. “As a result, it makes sense that Tech will have more trouble than other universities.”
 
Elena Rodriguez from the Lubbock Health Department said Lubbock County has a higher rate of chlamydia than the state’s national average.
 
“That means we are higher than the state average than other places with a population of more than 100,000 people,” she said.
 
Villarreal agreed.
 
“Lubbock used to be No. 1 in the nation for chlamydia,” he said.
 
Rodriguez said in the last year, 421 females ages 20 to 24, and 106 males tested positive for chlamydia. In the same age bracket, 82 females and 74 males tested positive for gonorrhea.
 
Daily Toreador (Texas Tech)
STD rates in Lubbock dropping
Nikki Siegrist
Issue date: 3/31/04 Section: Life & Leisure
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“I don’t think that there’s any kind of special Lubbock county or Texas Tech version of STDs going around,” she said. “A lot of that is all urban myth.”
   
Daily Toreador (Texas Tech)
Tech community discusses ‘Raider Rash’ rumors
By: Jeremy Martin
Posted: 4/22/05
According to a rumor on campus, Red Raiders can claim to lead the country in at least one category.
 
“I heard that Tech was like No. 1 in the nation for STDs,” Phillip Conway, a freshman business administration major from Dallas, said.
 
Several students have heard similar stories, but the actual rate of Raiders with sexually transmitted diseases changes with the storyteller. Conway said he had heard that something like 75 percent of Tech students are infected.
 
Legends of Tech’s climbing disease rate have become so well known that the phenomenon has been given a name - The Raider Rash.
 
Some rumors go so far as to say the constant mixing of STDs among Raiders has resulted in a new disease.
 
Brian Chambers, a senior human development and family studies major from Sugar land, said the rumor of a new STD sounds unrealistic, but he could see an upside to having a Raider-exclusive disease.
 
“That would be pretty cool for the university, ‘cause we’d get a lot of grant money for it,” he said.
 
While many students laugh at the idea of a new STD, some do believe Tech’s disease rate is abnormally high.
 
Allyson Keslin, a freshman from Lubbock, said some of the students she has talked to see nothing funny about legends of Tech’s STD rates. In fact, she said some people are frightened by the rumors.
 
“I know some freshman guys who say ‘I’m not hooking up with any Tech girls; they all have STDs,’” she said.
 
Keslin’s friend Sanjeet Baidwan laughed at the story of the students’ resolve for abstinence.
 
“Yeah, but the guys are freshmen,” she said. “That all goes to hell in a few years.”
 
Baidwan, a freshman cell molecular biology major, said she grew up in Lubbock and has heard stories of Tech’s notorious disease problem. She said it makes sense Tech students would lead the nation in the spread of STDs. Lubbock does not offer many activities to the college student, and because there are no liquor stores within city limits, it often is easier to have sex than have a drink.
 
“The Strip’s too far away, so people get bored,” she said.
 
While some students are frightened by the stories, others find the legends a source of humor.
 
Garrett Parker, a freshman business major from Fort Worth, took inspiration from the rumors and wrote “Lubbock Clap,” a parody of the UTP Playas’ song “Nolia Clap.“After a friend told him to write a rap song about Tech, Parker decided to rap about the disease rate on campus.
 
“I thought, ‘What’s Tech infamous for?’ and I thought about STDs,” Parker said. “Kind of a sad thing to be notorious for.”
 
According to lyrics from the song, STDs are so prevalent at Tech that traces of them can be found on the statue of Will Rogers.
 
Since Parker recorded the song in December, it is becoming increasingly famous at Tech, and on other campuses as well.
 
“I didn’t really imagine it would be this popular,” he said. “I went to a party down at (Texas) A&M, and some of the people there had heard it.”
 
The song now has its own group on the thefacebook.com site with more than 60 members. Parker said there also is an anti-“Lubbock Clap” group.
 
He never realized the song, which he originally recorded and e-mailed to one friend, would become so well known, but now he wants it to continue to gain popularity.
 
“I hope the song’s spreading faster than STDs on campus,” he said. “That’d be good for me.”
 
Dr. Kelly Bennett, the director of Student Health Services, said despite the rumors, legends and songs about Tech’s STD rates, the university really is no worse than most colleges.
 
“All state college campuses have an STD rate, and our STD rate is no higher,” she said.
 
About 5, not 75, percent of Tech students get diagnosed with STDs each year, Bennett said. This rate is consistent with other schools in the Big 12 Conference.
 
Part of the reason for the legends, she said, is students’ desire to make the university sound like more of a party school.
 
“Everybody wants to think their school is too cool, too dangerous,” she said. “You know, ‘everybody’s high, everybody’s drunk, everybody has STDs, look at us.”’
 
Though Tech does not have an abnormally high disease rate, Bennett said, student still should be concerned.

“I don’t want people to go, ‘“Oh it’s an urban legend; I don’t have to use protection,’” she said. “The rate is still too high. Use a condom.”