Rebels in the night, cops in the bushes

In my day, it was streaking. Remember? Pretty idiotic.

Nowadays, college students gather in their underwear to run like idiots in the night. This typically occurs just before finals.

In today’s OC Register, Marla Jo Fisher describes last night’s “Undie Run” at UC Irvine.  

Marla talked to one 18-year-old—among about 150 participants—who explained her actions as follows: "I felt it was time to open up and be free, rebel against social norms — without breaking the law."

I remember when rebelling was a dicier kind of thing. Something riskier than, say, defiantly neglecting to say “excuse me” upon sneezing.

Things do get a bit wild sometimes on these Undie Runs. Marla notes that, at OC’s last Undie Run—at Chapman University near sleepy downtown Orange—students “broke” the plaza fountain.

They did say, “excuse me,” though.

Last night at UCI, there were cops. Writes Marla, they “stood discreetly back in the shrubbery.”

One young woman decided not to participate, explaining that there were “too many strangers.” —Probably those creepy cops.


The run involved a circuit, which ended at a flagpole. The kid who arrived there first evidently “whooped.” Said she: "It felt really good to be free from all that stress, from finals and some issues at the dorm."

Issues at the dorm? No doubt Buffy and Scooter had a noisy spat. The entire dorm is in a tizzy.

My Gawd.

Photo: OC Register
VIDEO: UCI Undie Run