F or five thrilling minutes, he forgets about the psychology midterm, the mediocre paper he turned in that morning and the lectures in which he hears a voice reminiscent of Charlie Brown's inaudible teacher from the Peanuts cartoons. In a flurry of liberation, he rips of his clothes on the Rotunda steps and tears down the grassy path to pay Homer a visit.
He is the Lawn streaker, whose presence is made known in the early morning hours of most every Saturday and Sunday. What is it that has possessed University students to faithfully uphold this time-honored tradition as a break from an intense academic week?
Fourth-year Commerce student and "Lawnie" Bobby Petersen cites a natural inclination for nudity.
"We were all born naked -- it's our natural state," Petersen said.
While some University students might claim that the hunger to run naked in public is innate, others, like Secretary to the Board of Visitors Alexander "Sandy" Gilliam, point out that streaking is not a trend that has been kept alive since T.J.'s time, but a fresh fad.
"I've been here since 1975, and I don't recall streaking being a big deal until about '94, '95," Gilliam said. "It was picked up in the national newspapers and continued for several weekends.It was totally out of hand, with people driving here from New Jersey and places like that to streak -- police started arresting people wholesale."
Gilliam added that his only recollection of streakers before the last decade was of a "vague organization" named the Naked Marauders, whose legacy has been left on the steps and walls of University fraternities and sororities in the form of the letters NM.
University President John T. Casteen, III agreed that the popularity of streaking is a fairly recent phenomenon.
"I doubt that streaking happened very often before coeducation, and I finished school before that," Casteen said. "I can't remember hearing of it until about 25 years ago."
Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield recalled watching with high school friends as streakers sprinted the quad of the University of Illinois campus in the early '70s, when he said the trend "hit its peak."
"Virginia students may think they created a tradition, but it was basically a Midwest thing," Bloomfield said. "It was the end of the Vietnam era, so civil disobedience was all the rage. The police were viewed as the enemy."
Today, the University police operate without a formal streaking policy and maintain that while it is a sex offense, their top priority is safety.
"We have a serial rapist out in the community, and it is suspected that he stalks people and sees them at some point prior to the attacks, so we have to have a real concern," said Capt. Michael Coleman of the University Police Department. "It is not something we go out of our way to look for or enforce except that we want people to be safe."
With no real boundaries -- Petersen said he once streaked the Lawn, the Engineering School and the stadium in one night -- streakers may potentially present a distraction and even a hazard to the community.
Fourth-year College student and Lawnie Kate Malay agreed that the police primarily serve to ensure that late-night Lawn activity is not a danger to anyone.
"If [students] are endangering themselves or others, [the police] are there to do their job," Malay said. "On the whole, this is so harmless."
Bloomfield noted that there are several other public safety issues that he'd rather see authorities crack down on, and that occasionally an excess of rules can have adverse affects.
Fourth-year Architecture student Alex Dunham said he believes the police have a sense of the tradition.
"They appreciate the history and tradition behind [streaking] and understand that we're just college students," Dunham said.
University students who plan to partake in the bare run should be forewarned that those watching are 'just college students,' too. With what he claimed is the spirit of good-natured fun, fourth-year Engineering student Markus Weisner acquired a couple of high-powered spotlights to make the sprints more interesting from his seat under the colonnade.
"If I've got naked people running by my door, I'll peek out or light 'em up," Weisner said. "We cut [the lights] on when they run by -- it's their moment in the light, and they actually sort of look like they enjoy being lit up."
Besides the prospect of being lit up, fourth-year College student and Lawnie William Chichester warned of more serious threats to one's Lawn exposure.
"There are definitely spotlights, and you may be on videotape, so if you want to run for public office you should keep this in mind," Chichester said. "And some Pavilion residents purposefully steal clothes."
Dunham, a University Guide, said the Lawn drops 18 feet over the course of the run, which measures at least 1,000 feet. While several students suggested that streakers make sure they are in shape before attempting the dash, Petersen said he has offered his room for "mid-streak breaks," complete with Gatorade and Power Bars.
"We're gonna make sure people are fully hydrated when they make this 200-meter streak," Petersen said.
For those who consider themselves graduated from the novice streaker concerns, fourth-year Engineering student and Lawnie Jeff Strup offered his advice on how best to streak when the Lawn is roped off for new grass to be planted.
"It's actually better to dive across [the ropes] and do a somersault," Strup said.
Perhaps this acrobatic feat is not all that unlikely, considering the uninhibited attitude of the average streaker. Several Lawnies agreed that while the majority of streakers are intoxicated, it is not considered a prerequisite for the activity. And once the streaker has begun the sprint, nothing is considered abnormal behavior.
"Girls are funny because they squeal the whole way down," Malay said. "Last time I streaked, I squealed the whole way down. I don't know why."
Some argue about whether the settling frost will deter potential streakers.
"When the first frost comes, that's the end of it -- people have more sense than to run down the Lawn when it's below freezing," Gilliam said.
But fourth-year College student and Lawnie Addison Sears-Collins said he disagrees.
"There's no relationship between the weather and streaking," he laughed.
If not the ropes, or the freezing temperatures, what could stop the streaker?Will the tradition ever wear out?
"This stuff never gets old -- all those kinds of bend-the-rules, living-on-the-edge activities are so appealing to people in their late teens and early 20s," Bloomfield said.
Casteen had his own subtle prediction.
"I don't know about streaking getting old, but streakers will, and do," Casteen said. "Pounds and wrinkles probably beget modesty."
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