Underwear, brick buildings and the midnight wind will all unite at UCLA in just three weeks.
While it may not be the best story to tell your grandparents during spring break, it is supposedly one of the defining experiences of finals week and of UCLA.
I am talking, of course, about the infamous Undie Run that starts at the stroke of midnight at the corner of Gayley and Landfair avenues and consists of a mass of students wearing nothing but their underwear snaking their way down Bruin Walk and into the fountain near Royce Hall.
It is common for many students to make excuses and skip out on this weirdly hedonistic UCLA tradition.
I admit that I am one of them: I would like to participate, but I am really self-conscious about the whole issue. But honestly, if you’re surrounded by people who have managed to let go of their inhibitions, it should rub off on you.
Last night, the Undergraduate Students Association Council conducted a meeting to discuss possible alterations to the route and even nature of Undie Run. The main problems were possible safety and damage issues. Last year, the Shapiro Fountain by Royce suffered $10,500 worth of damage.
USAC President Marwa Kaisey was concerned about the fact that the administration might cancel the festivities. The angry looks and complaints about noise and disturbances from the dressed ones of De Neve Plaza don’t help either.
To all those who complain, I want you to either strip with the rest of the Bruins or suck it up for a night. You are at a university, not a senior home.
What is strange is that there are so many people who view this as a horrendous activity because of the stereotypes revolving around it.
“The only people I know who do it are North Campus, and they don’t really study,” said June Barrera, a second-year ecology, behavior and evolution student, in a barely joking tone. So now the South Campus elite are bowing out? Or is this just another excuse to cover up insecurities? We need to forget about our weird concept of self-image ““ Undie Run is supposed to be exciting and just basic fun.
“I went to the one last spring,” said Kaori Isaka, a fourth-year world arts and cultures student. “There were so many people that you couldn’t move. There were guys that were naked and guys in costumes. When we got to De Neve Plaza, there was an audience waiting for us and they took pictures.”
A little hedonism goes a long way. No one is asking for a slice of Pompeii, but I think when we find ourselves in that world of cubicles and mortgages, we might want to remember the time we stood in front of the university library almost bare-bottomed.
I know that we are all being driven to madness by organic chemistry or political science or physics, but if we can’t even take the time to do something stupid and slightly naked when we are 20 years old, do you really want to imagine this generation at an extremely conservative 40?
“I have always had finals so I have never gone. But, … I might do it this quarter,” said Jennifer Cho, a first-year undeclared life science student.
For some reason, I don’t think she meant it. I don’t blame her because even though I am convinced that this is something I should do before graduating, I just cannot get myself to follow through with it.
It is as safe as an underwear-oriented event can get. In fact, before last year, students used to run around the streets of Westwood, but in order to maintain safety, the route was changed to on-campus areas .
A lot of students think of this as something the “others” do ““ you know “them,” that mysterious sect of people on campus who actually do let their hair down and turn up for traditional insanity.
But if the numbers don’t lie (and they never do), many UCLA undergraduates do participate.
According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 5,000 scantily clad Bruins were present last winter to speed down Bruin Walk, and the number attending increases exponentially each quarter.
I know all this, but I am still apprehensive about the run. It is hard to shake off hesitation, but in the matters of collegiate madness, it might just be our responsibility.
Send me letters of encouragement at rjoshi@media.ucla.edu.