Voices echoed down the Strathmore Tunnel on Wednesday as a record number of students celebrated the end of the quarter and the end of the year with the triannual Undie Run.
A brisk June night was the backdrop for the last Undie Run of the year, the second time that participants took the new route, which goes through the Strathmore Tunnel into Bruin Plaza, up Bruin Walk, and ends near Royce Hall at Shapiro Fountain.
Nancy Greenstein, director of police community services for university police, said about 8,000 to 9,000 people were in attendance, the most on record since Undie Run began.
“For the most part people were (well) behaved … everyone left very peacefully,” she said.
However, she said the size of the crowd was a concern for police.
“Our issue is to make sure students are safe,” she said.
Greenstein said there were no serious police incidents reported at the run, but there were some cases of alcohol and substance abuse reactions and at least six emergency medical service calls were made within the midnight to 1:30 a.m. time period. She added that a number of students reported cuts and bruises but sought their own treatment.
Police officers blocked traffic at the intersection of Gayley Avenue and Strathmore Drive as students piled in at the start of the route. The crowd of students cheered and took pictures as a band of jazz musicians played music and some students carried items such as pillows, a blow-up doll and a surfboard.
Greenstein said university police and administrators are currently investigating the extent of property damage from Undie Run, but the sprinkler heads on the lawn by Powell Library were broken off.
Runners faced a bottleneck of traffic near the Ackerman bus terminal, but many students reacted positively to the new route.
Stacy Young, a second-year physiological science student, said it was her second Undie Run and the first time on the new route.
“The tunnel is kind of fun,” she said. “There’s something fun about … (a) whole street of naked people.”
Despite the new route, many students formed a mob by traveling to the starting point from the intersection of Gayley and Landfair avenues, which was where the old route began, she said.
“It’s almost the old route,” Young said.
It was also the second Undie Run for Steven Hoang, a third-year mathematics/economics student.
He said the new route shared the “same atmosphere” as the old and there was not a large difference.
“It’s easier on the (police) and safer,” he said.
Hector Valadez, a fifth-year psychology student, said he came out to observe but could not participate because he had a final the next day.
“If I do it, it’s going to get out of hand and I won’t study,” he said.
Though the flashes of hundreds of cameras went off that night, many students said they were not concerned about the potential privacy issues.
“I feel like if you are out here in your underwear, you should be prepared … you’re in public,” Young said.
Megan Quint, a first-year political science student, said if people are comfortable enough to be outside in their underwear, they should be comfortable enough to be photographed.
“You know what you are getting yourself into,” she said.