THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 11, 1994 TAG: 9410110433
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
It's done at colleges nationwide at commencement, at football games and late at night on fraternity row after some students have had too much to drink. But what happened at the University of Virginia early Sunday morning, students there say, was a streak above the rest.
Starting at 2 a.m. and lasting for almost an hour, scores of students at the Charlottesville school ran a half-mile loop through campus au naturel. Police estimated that more than 2,000 gawkers cheered on 100 students - 80 men and 20 women - who made the jaunt across the school's historic Lawn in the buff, braving the chilly weather and a barrage of flashbulbs and flashlights.
Organizers say the mass streaking was an act of civil disobedience. They contend that school officials and campus police recently have started to crack down on running in the nude, a hallowed campus tradition.
Kevin Finn, 20, a junior from Lexington, Va., said he decided to organize the protest after one of his friends was arrested while streaking last month.
``We felt it was unfair. . . . We feel that it's our Lawn and we should be able to do what we want,'' said Finn, who posted fliers in classrooms advertising the bare-all protest.
Very much in vogue during the 1970s, streaking on college campuses has declined in recent years, but it has not disappeared. Princeton University students participate in a wintertime frolic called the Nude Olympics, which takes place the night of the first snowfall. Students at the University of Michigan celebrate the last day of classes by jogging a mile in the nude.
School officials and police at the 18,000-student university took a dim view of Sunday morning's proceedings. Dean of Students Robert Canevari labeled the event ``a bit twisted.''
Streakers can face punishment under the university's disciplinary system, Canevari said, as well as misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure. At least three University of Virginia streakers have been arrested this fall, two of them for streaking through the freshman convocation.
Police dispute claims that police are taking a harder line with streakers. Every year a few students are arrested for indecent exposure.
KEYWORDS: STREAKING UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
by CNB