Mark these words: Changing the current route of the Undie Run to
the administration-sanctioned, on-campus route would essentially be
killing what has been a proud student tradition.
Sure, it might not seem to make that much of a difference
whether you run in your skivvies on campus or off. But the undies
are only half of what makes the Undie Run great.
The other half is what it symbolizes: Running down Landfair
Avenue wearing just boxers and/or a bra is a defiant statement
against social norms and the administrators who would rather you do
something else. It’s about rebelling against the system that
gave you an 8 a.m. final Thursday morning. It’s about feeling
totally free for about half an hour before it’s time to lock
yourself in the library again with a textbook and a cup of
coffee.
The Undie Run isn’t just people running. Participants also
include those who are lined up along streets and watching through
windows. No other event at UCLA brings students together like this,
not even Homecoming.
But if police, administrators and some members of the
undergraduate student government have their way Wednesday at
midnight, that won’t be the case anymore. Instead of the
normal loop between Gayley and Landfair to Strathmore and Glenrock,
students will be asked to run down Gayley, through De Neve Plaza
and down to the Bruin Bear.
In other words, what has been a uniquely student tradition
““ one that has grown from just a few people to thousands
““ is now being bought out and subsidized by the UCLA
administration.
We’re not entirely unsympathetic to some of the concerns
administrators have expressed about the Undie Run in its current
form. Admittedly, there is a potential for people to get hurt.
After all, hundreds of college students, some of them in various
states of inebriation, and all in a state of undress, are not the
most safety-conscious crowd.
And there is also the issue of noise and property damage: Last
year, some participants ran over parked cars. Such behavior is
difficult to explain and almost impossible to excuse. And for some
Westwood residents, it probably conjured up memories of the old
midnight yell tradition in Westwood, when students went so far as
to throw burning couches off balconies.
But these concerns could have been addressed with measures
designed to deter the damage, like positioning more police along
the current route and publicizing the penalties for destructive
behavior through the dean of students.
We appreciate that the administration is trying to preempt
possible problems, but frankly, the real purpose of the on-campus
Undie Run route seems to be getting rid of the run altogether.
Past student traditions that the administration put the clamps
on ““ the Midnight Yell, Black Sunday ““ were regulated
to death because they consistently crossed the boundaries of public
safety. The Undie Run has yet to do that. It only takes about half
an hour, it only happens once a quarter, and participants are
usually quick to disperse afterwards.
If, come Wednesday at midnight, the only option open to the
undie-toting students who show up at the corner of Gayley and
Landfair is the on-campus route, it’s almost not worth
taking.
Because at that point, it’s no longer the Undie Run.
It’s the Undie Run’s vague corporate cousin.