Quad streakers strike again

The streak lives on. For the third straight year, a handful of bold University students cast off their clothes -- not to mention their modesty -- and sprinted around the Quadrangle yesterday morning. Their clothes came off just as the sun came up, and at 7 a.m., the seven streakers were off and runnning through the misty rain. "Wake up!" one of the runners exulted, as they left the tip of the Upper Quad. "This is it!" Clad only in shoes, socks and hats, the adventurous students exposed themselves for all to see as they made their way down to the Lower Quad, through the Baby Quad and back to their starting point. They triumphantly raised their clenched fists into the air a la Rocky Balboa, but there was no music befitting a champion. In fact, besides the runners' whooping, all was quiet. And due to the early hour, most Quad residents missed out on the chance to glimpse the sight. College freshman Hadley Freeman said the noise roused her from her bed, but by the time she looked out the window, "I just saw them all running around in a pack." But Engineering senior Alan Stein, who claimed to be a veteran observer of the first two streaks, said he awoke in time to get a "window-side seat" to the spectacle. If yesterday's participants have their way, the run will continue long into the future. The three particpants who said they were not seniors vowed to return to the Quad one morning next February for a return engagement. Fortunately for the participants and their bodies, the freezing February temperatures which greeted past years' streakers were nowhere to be found yesterday. But, despite the comparatively mild weather, several runners still complained about the chilly air. "It's cold!" screamed one runner. "I'm freezing!" Another streaker, apparently more concerned with personal pride than warmth, countered: "It's degrading!" After the one-lap jaunt was over, the streakers gathered their apparel and described what prompted their fleshy display. "We got sick of the old Penn traditions so we decided to start a new one," said one runner. "There's just something about running naked in the Quad early in the morning," explained another. "We felt we had to do it." "It's a very political statement about something," added "Ray," who claimed he was one of the run's original founders three years ago. "About what, we have no idea." "We're just here to have fun and get naked!" yelled another.

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