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Participating students will be invited to take off their clothes and donate them to charities such as the Salvation Army, and then participate in a two-mile run in their underwear.

Semi-nude run proposed

By: Caitlin Gray

Posted: 2/1/08

A group of students are trying to organize an "Undie Run" in University City May 3, where students will be invited to donate their clothes to charity and then run around a predetermined route in their underwear.

The organizers said they plan to invite all Philadelphia college students, especially targeting Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania communities, to show up at midnight on May 3 wearing clothing they no longer want. Bins will be provided to take your clothes off and donate them to a yet to be determined charity.

Vice President of the effort and junior business administration and finance major Ryan

Wheeler said they will be contacting the Salvation Army along with various other charity organizations.

Once students have stripped down to their knickers, they will be invited to participate in a two-mile run around a mapped out route through the Drexel and Penn campuses.

"Going with the snowball effect weíve found on the online social network, it's becoming more of an effort to build a sense of community among the Philadelphia schools," said Vice President and junior architecture student Zach Newhard.

Wheeler said they are in the process of applying for a parade permit from the City of Philadelphia to close off the street in order to ensure safety during the event.

A group of about six men are behind this plan. They started a Facebook group to get the word out about the event. To date, there are 713 people in the Facebook group.

The group's public relations and advertising Chair, sophomore chemical engineering student Lucas Hippel, said Facebook will be the primary way of keeping students informed about the event. They will also use flyers, chalking and word of mouth.

The group's president and sophomore civil engineering student, Dan Vignola, said the run is gaining popularity with other schools on Facebook as well; he has been contacted by students at St. Joseph's University, Penn and Temple.

The group plans on approaching the administration about possibly getting funding for security and a non-alcoholic after party in the quad, but details are still undecided.

"If they want funding from the University, they would have to follow the same procedures to get funding that would cover the cost of security that every other organization has to follow," Executive Director of Communications and Marketing for the Division of Student Life and Administrative Services Jim Katsaounis said. "They would get no special treatment."

"When OCA works with student organizations in planning events, we ask them good questions to be sure that they are planning an organized, safe and legal event," Interim Assistant Dean for Campus Engagement, John Cooke, said.

SAFAC Funding was only eligible if the event was open to all students, Cooke said. If the run meets SAFAC's requirements, the organization would be allowed to apply for either reserve funding (if they did not receive an annual allocation) or utilize some of their Annual Allocation towards this event.

Undergraduate Student Government Association Greek Life Representative Andrew Gould said he is trying to get Drexel to fund the cost of security at the run.

"I will be pushing this event to the USGA ... [and] I will be reaching out the Greek community to get a lot of participation," he said.

All of the organizers are members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, but they strongly emphasized this is not endorsed by the fraternity and is in no way a Greek Life event.

"People always complain Drexel doesnít have anything fun for students to have fun and express themselves and build unity. Now, with this tradition, people will appreciate Drexel. It gives us all something to be proud of our school," Vignola said.

The organizers want people to have fun without getting into trouble. They said their flyers will advocate appropriate underwear that covers enough skin. Those who are wearing too revealing underwear will be asked to keep their clothes on, they said.

"We are here to have fun and build tradition and not to break the law," Hippel said.

The group of friends spearheading this effort started talking about it in November when they heard about the success and popularity "Undie Runs" saw in California campuses.

Wheeler contacted Kyle Kuhlmann, who initiated the tradition at San Diego State University, to ask for advice about organizing this kind of event.

According to Kuhlmann, SDSU has donated more than 1600 pieces of clothing to needy San Diegans and to the fire victims last fall.