First Rain aka the Naked Run

By Leanna Wei on November 24, 2014

Yes, what you are thinking is precisely correct. The University of California Santa Cruz has an annual naked run around the school campus during the first rainfall of the year. The run starts from Porter College and makes its way around to each of the other colleges on the campus, gathering more people as they go.

The tradition started in 1989 when an earthquake struck and the students of Santa Cruz, in the dead of the night, frightened, decided to walk out into the quad to support each other. During their games to calm each others’ nerves, they dared one another to run around naked. And thus, the tradition began. However, there are rules as to when the first rains happens:

1. It must be raining from 6 – 10 pm consistently. (Misting or occasional showers does not count)

2. It must happen on a school night

3. The run always starts at Porter College

This year, the first rain fell on 2 consecutive days, November 19th and 20th. For the past few years, the “official” first rain has been hard to determine due to the drought. Students of Santa Cruz claimed the 19th was unofficial because it was not raining consistently and so the 20th was deemed the “official” day for the First Rain.

Unfortunately, the school administrators decided that it was unsafe and threatened to arrest anyone who participated in the naked run, leading many students to not partake in the run on the 20th. Interestingly enough, on the 19th, students combined the naked run along with the protest against the UC tuition hike. Students ran around the campus naked carrying protest signs.

Many upperclassmen on Santa Cruz encourage students to participate in the first rain at least once during their college career as this is a tradition exclusive to UC Santa Cruz. Over time, the purpose of the first rain has evolved to become a representation that they are not ashamed of their bodies and are proud to display it to go against the stereotypical standard of beauty. That being said, photographing the naked run is highly disrespectful and is strongly discouraged.

At the same time, there are many students who find the naked run to be extremely unappealing and if it isn’t your cup of tea, simply avoid being out on campus during the times of 6 – 10 pm. Usually if the first rain will be happening, the UCSC Confessions Page on Facebook will make a post about it and by word of mouth, you will hear about it too.

Someone will start by shouting “LET’S GET NAKED!”

Let the run begin.

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