I took a new three-speed to college as basic transportation. I don't remember carrying a lock even after having one stolen. My folk's home owner insurance covered it so I rode an exact replacement until graduation.
I had several run-ins with the campus cops. Once I was stopped for pedaling the wrong way on a parking street. I was far more incredulous than remorseful but got off without a ticket anyway.
Early winter I did get a ticket for parking next to the no bicycle parking sign in the Math building breezeway. The cops chained my bike to the sign and attached the ticket to the chain with a clipboard. I thought the breezeway was as good a place as any to keep my bike over the winter. Come spring a fellow student passing in the hallway showed me bolt cutters and announced that he had liberated the bike without realizing it was mine.