The naked and the drunk

December 12, 2007 7:17 PM

Local newsrag covers Tufts annual Naked Quad Run and posts video of event to YouTube. Outrage ensues. (privacy! ethics! wah!) See also: Local LJ community's take. (video embedded in body of article is NSFW)

In case it is removed from the article, the direct (NSFW) youtube link

posted by FreezBoy (46 comments total)

The first commenter in the newsrag link surprised me with his bitterness. So a bunch of coeds take off their clothes. What's the big deal?
posted by misha at 7:26 PM on December 12, 2007

That video is shot from the wrong angle. [NOT BUTTIST]

(Didn't this happen a few years back, before YouTube, with Harvard's Primal Scream?)
posted by uncleozzy at 7:27 PM on December 12, 2007

The first commenter in the newsrag link surprised me with his bitterness.

You will never find a wretched hive of scum and villainy to match your local newspaper's comments section.
posted by dhartung at 7:33 PM on December 12, 2007 [9 favorites has favorites]

Heh. Interesting to see this. When I was at Tufts, it seemed like most people ended up wussing out and running in undies. There was much more full frontal (backal?) action in that clip than I remember. Also, I don't recall a "no photos" rule, but that was back when putting a picture on the Internet was a non-trivial task. Also, I never ran, but that was more because of the cold factor [NOT NUDIST].
posted by Rock Steady at 7:36 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Also also also, hot chocolate? Donuts? DJ? Official University event? Gah, I'm old.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:39 PM on December 12, 2007

I just read this today, being the Somerville townie that I am. (And I used to date a Tufts girl - I'm all over this from every angle.) Yes, there's an "unwritten rule" that photography is discouraged at NQR, but that fell by the wayside some time ago as the event gained notoriety and enforcement of said "rule" proved impossible. This is the era of "Girls Gone Wild," and anyone who takes their clothes off not just in public but at a public event has to expect that pictures will be taken, and they will end up on the internet. The amount of vitriol directed at the author of the article is really over the top, and (I almost hate to say it) pretty typical of the hysteria of college kids in general, and the over-privileged children at that University in particular. Hell, the dude was only covering a notorious local event for a local paper, and had the courtesy to shoot his video from behind (hehhehheh), so that no one is identifiable.

The complaint regarding the picture of the two girls (since removed, but available via Google cache) might have more legs, except it showed no nudity (not even legs!), and they were clearly posing for the shot. The Somerville Journal website is no more than a glorified blog, so I don't really see journalist ethics coming into the picture here - not to suggest that "Somerville Journal" and "journalist ethics" have ever been on speaking terms.

I guess I could have summed this post up with a few, short words I've been saying for over a decade (especially when I was serving those damned kids with my taxi cab): "Shut up, you whiny Tufts babies."
posted by Banky_Edwards at 7:54 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wow, the youtube comments are worse. Everyone giving the filmer crap for filming it? It's just a bunch of strange butts parading by! Seriously, on a scale of innocuous anonymous semi-nudity to creepy lurid hot sex action, that video was firmly all the way over on the harmless side.

You can't ID anyone from it, no one gets hurt, no big deal, right?
posted by mathowie at 7:55 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

match your local newspaper's comments section.

Because it's the unfiltered version of the letters to the editor.
posted by smackfu at 7:56 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

The run began in 1975, when male students streaked across campus in protest against plans to make Tufts housing coed. Females began running in 1987, when West Hall became the last dorm to be made coed.

WTF? Who in their right mind would protest against co-ed dorms!?
posted by delmoi at 8:01 PM on December 12, 2007

WTF? Who in their right mind would protest against co-ed dorms!?

"Wide-stance" college republicans?
posted by maxwelton at 8:15 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wow, the youtube comments are worse.

YouTube comments are always worse...
posted by clevershark at 8:28 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

naked + outside + cold = not fun for me. at Brown, we had a naked party every year that was indoors and often had some pretty great live music from naked performers. windows were covered and one year we had to actively keep out the "girls gone wild" crew.

strangely - it made for a very unsexy dancing type party. not very much bumpin and grindin when there's no clothes in the way
posted by cubby at 8:36 PM on December 12, 2007

Full disclosure: I am a journalist at a daily newspaper that competes with a GateHouse daily newspaper in the next county.

First things first: It's not clear to me that the event is public. Tufts University is a private institution; unless there are public easements on the residential quad, the journalist has no legal right to be there in the first place, unless the public was invited (which would make it public). But even if the public is invited to private property, their conduct can be regulated by the property owner. So, if Tufts said "no photographs or video," this reporter crossed the line.

Generally, when I am taking pictures, I make sure I am at least standing in a public space (the street, the sidewalk, a park) or have secured the property owner or manager's permission before entering the property to take photos. Sometimes I have to step onto private property in order to do my job, but I reserve those times for when I don't have the time to get in touch with the property owner (such as when his or her house is burning down, or when they're not home)

That the journalist didn't find a campus security officer and ask whether photography was permitted seems irresponsible. It's called "checking in," and if you don't do it, you open yourself up to all kinds of misfortune and criticism.

(Tangent: Thanks to one of the photos, there are seven more people whose asses belong to a media conglomerate. Moreover... these asses are licensed for free distribution with attribution in the Creative Commons...)

The raw video that was posted was embarrassing. Not a single edit, and an unappealing use of titles. You could argue that the raw footage is somehow like C-SPAN journalism, but I don't think they're in the same league. There are so many ways to cover a nude event tastefully with video; this unimaginative shot has little technical or journalistic merit. It gets boring way too quickly. They could have stopped at 10 seconds... but even then it would still have been crap.
posted by bugmuncher at 9:09 PM on December 12, 2007

I put naked photos of myself on the internet all the time. Wheres my outrage?
posted by Avenger at 9:13 PM on December 12, 2007

Bugmuncher - I'm guessing from watching the video that he was not standing on the street or sidewalk, but there *are* several public roads that go straight through the quad where they run. I've watched the NQR from my parked cab in years past - not a great view, but definitely on public property. Tufts is partially located in the most densely populated city in New England, no privacy arguments are going to convince me that these kids have been wronged.

As for whether it's good journalism, I note again - it was written for the Somerville Journal website, which is one step above LiveJournal for quality journalism.
posted by Banky_Edwards at 9:18 PM on December 12, 2007

So good to see my beloved institution (and peers) make it onto the Blue with our hallmark event, the Naked Quad Run. It's hardly the only occasion Jumbos commemorate with drunkenness and foolish behavior, but it is probably the only thing most people know the University for. Hurrah, hurrah...

Yes, Tufts, my pride is tempered only by a blinding eagerness to take that diploma and run. But I digress...

You will never find a wretched hive of scum and villainy to match your local newspaper's comments section.

While we're on the subject of hyperbolic commenters and Somerville, I adore this post from our own white/working class newspaper, The Somerville News, which "broke the story" of Barack Obama paying his outstanding Cambridge parking tickets this spring. Comments include:

Yes, it is news. Thank you for asking.

Many citizens and voters are interested to know whether or not a candidate for President has an ounce of character.

Barak Hussein Obama apparently does not.

Bye now.
Posted by: Osama Obama | March 07, 2007 at 04:16 PM

This clown is turning out to be quite the shady character. . . Invests more then $50,000.00 in a company startup with four friends and doesn’t know anything about it, and now this. . . Obama is sounding more and more like the Clintons “I don’t remember. . .”

These LIBERALS have two sets of rules, one for themselves, and one for the Peasants, that would be us, just the common folk. Do as I say, not as I do!
Posted by: Steve | March 07, 2007 at 06:07 PM

posted by coolhappysteve at 9:22 PM on December 12, 2007

Ah, Tufts hits metafilter. I think this may be a first.

As a current student here, let me tell you: not that many people are "outraged" in conversation. There are very few faces exposed, and I've heard some people talking about it, but I think most of this is confined to the internet. Not sure we should be expecting riots or anything.
posted by stvspl at 9:37 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

On reflection, I hope that comment wasn't hijacking.

Also, great analysis, bugmuncher. FWIW, I can say with certainty that the reporter is standing pretty well into a quad area that likely qualifies as Tufts property.
posted by coolhappysteve at 9:37 PM on December 12, 2007

I should also mention - people definitely know that there are creepy people with cameras at NQR. There are flashes everywhere. I guess people were just hoping that the pictures never made it to the internet?
posted by stvspl at 9:40 PM on December 12, 2007

These LIBERALS have two sets of rules, one for themselves, and one for the Peasants, that would be us, just the common folk. Do as I say, not as I do!
Posted by: Steve | March 07, 2007 at 06:07 PM

Why do I feel like I can guess that guy's last name and middle initial?
posted by delmoi at 9:49 PM on December 12, 2007

Calm down people. Listen to the fire chief:

"Four incidents was “probably not bad for a Naked Run night,” Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher said."
posted by tighttrousers at 9:51 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Go Tufts!

As a current student here, let me tell you: not that many people are "outraged" in conversation. There are very few faces exposed, and I've heard some people talking about it, but I think most of this is confined to the internet. Not sure we should be expecting riots or anything.

I've had the same experience.

Side note: I mentioned NQR in passing two years ago on my blog, and that entry continues to get a few hits almost every day. In the past week it's gotten several hundred -- many from Google queries which include "pictures" or "video"...
posted by danb at 10:19 PM on December 12, 2007

cubby: wait. that naked party you speak of in providence? that's an annual event at my house! that's crazy.

(don't suppose you're co-op alumni??)
posted by lunit at 10:22 PM on December 12, 2007

That the journalist didn't find a campus security officer and ask whether photography was permitted seems irresponsible.


So let me get this straight. A bunch of drunken students run around naked in public, ( sorry, but a university is about as public a place as one could imagine) and a "journalist"believes that permission to document this self-indulgent and widely promoted silliness should have been sought from campus rent a cops? Wow.

I guess this sort of attitude is why I stopped reading newspapers after 30 years as a news junkie. Had no idea it was getting this bad though.

Eric Blair was too optimistic.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 10:26 PM on December 12, 2007

also: it's crazy how being naked makes people a lot less sexually inclined. i've been to a few naked parties, and they're always just fun nights (often with dancing) where people just chill. it's surprisingly not-embarrasing, not-really-an-issue nakedness, and it's amazing. and we often find ourselves wondering, after the party, why people don't just hang out naked together all the time.
posted by lunit at 10:28 PM on December 12, 2007

Pubic hairs in the cocktails, for one .
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 10:37 PM on December 12, 2007

There's also the time Bill O'Reilly did an expose on the Brown party "sex power god."
posted by lunit at 10:40 PM on December 12, 2007

The following day, O'Reilly talked about the party on his radio show, The Radio Factor, saying, "You would have been safer in Baghdad than on the campus of Brown University,"

Right. Explosive ball-gags and crotchless panties killed 3; and maimed at least a dozen.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 11:04 PM on December 12, 2007

So let me get this straight. A bunch of drunken students run around naked in public, ( sorry, but a university is about as public a place as one could imagine)

But it's private proprety. the issue is where the photog was standing. If you trespass to take a photograph or video, you invite notification of your trespass and possible arrest if you do not leave immediately.

and a "journalist"believes that permission to document this self-indulgent and widely promoted silliness should have been sought from campus rent a cops? Wow.

It's not because you need the permission to document; it's so when someone complains, they can't touch you.

Complainer: "You published my picture, and I didn't want you to!"

Photojournalist: "Tough, you were outdoors and had no reasonable expectation of privacy, and I used your photo for editorial purposes."

Complainer: "But photos were prohibited at the event!"

Photojournalist: "I already secured permission/I did not need to secure permission because I was standing in a public space."

If you trespass, it makes it that much harder to respond to a complainer. They could file a lawsuit, and the corporate counsel gets involved, and it becomes a big expensive mess. It's a lot cheaper to stand on a public sidewalk.

Moreover, when deciding not to ask permission on private property, you risk the property owner's wrath. Their wrath has no bearing on the pictures you shot that day, but it affects the conditions of the next time you try to enter their property.

At an average single-family residence where the homeowner could not be contacted, I might trespass onto the property; the worst that can happen is they'll kick me out after I got whatever photos I needed. If the property owner tells me later that I am not welcome, I probably won't need to go back anyway.

A private university is probably the source of several major stories each year, so angering them could make it really hard to do your job in the future. It is also a lot more likely to have decided on rules than the average property owner, and generally has a network of officials that can tell you these rules. Since the event was planned in advance, it's not like it would have been hard to find out what the rules were.

Schools and malls can be really difficult when it comes to their rights. The college near me has a standing "no entry by journalists" policy unless we contact them in advance, or it is a festival or sporting event. The local mall only lets us take photos by their invitation, usually to shitty photo ops that we don't want to cover; If we want to shoot something else, sometimes they give permission, but not usually.

I guess this sort of attitude is why I stopped reading newspapers after 30 years as a news junkie. Had no idea it was getting this bad though.

Maybe institutions have gotten more protective of their rights in the last 30 years... But I think the biggest problem facing newspapers, content-wise, is the continually decreasing number of people creating the content.
posted by bugmuncher at 11:54 PM on December 12, 2007

There is also a tradition along these lines at UC Santa Cruz (go figure). It's appropriately called "First Rain," as everyone strips down to nothing and congregates at the Porter Quad at the first sign of rain during the new academic year. Students basically hang out for a while, basking in their rain-soaked nudity, until the drumming circle stops, and everyone starts on a mad dash throughout campus.

It was a really fun and thrilling experience to be able to run around undressed without feeling like I was being sexualized. And I'm glad that I had the opportunity to participate in a tradition that experientially links me to the generations of students which both preceded and succeeded me. I will say that there wasn't anyone running around screaming PUSSY PUSSY PUSSY! like the guy in the Tufts video. Confronting behavior and attitudes like that would have ruined the experience of it for me.

And per the journalist's publication of the video: though UCSC had an informal rule against the use of cameras (to protect students' privacy), it was generally accepted that pictures would be taken, if only for posterity and memory's sake. This changes when someone exploits the tradition in order to capitalize on it. Ethically speaking, the journalist shouldn't have published that video. Words would convey the experience to the wider audience well enough without overstepping the boundaries of common courtesy.
posted by numinous at 12:14 AM on December 13, 2007

numinous: Slugs unite! I was an RA at UCSC and made sure all my charges knew the deal about photos in advance, and when the First Rain runners ran through College Nine, body paint and all, they actually ran into our dining hall and some of the dorms. One year there was enough notice for us to set up a card table full of marathon-style cups of water. It was awesome.

God, I love that place.
posted by mdonley at 3:12 AM on December 13, 2007

It was crappy to film it, although this film does not really ID anyone. I am amazed by the number of participants. We had nude olympics in college, but nowhere near this number of people participated. No cameras allowed, although I am sure a few jerk offs took pictures from their dorm rooms, but at least they kept them to themselves.
posted by caddis at 4:55 AM on December 13, 2007

bugmuncher - the author of the article does respond a few times in the comments, look for the name "Audi" which doesn't answer if they were on public property (a few public streets cross through the campus) but does say that at least one Tufts police person knew they were there.

I was asked to cover this event and get photos and video - I did. I carried a big notebook, stood next to a Tufts police woman as I took the video and identified myself as a Journal reporter with everyone I spoke to that night, just as I would at any other event.
posted by FreezBoy at 5:13 AM on December 13, 2007

I witnessed the Tufts Naked Quad run a few years.. several of my friends (and an ex-girlfriend) ran it; I had the opportunity but I did not.
I haven't seen the video yet, but I remember it as being not very glamorous or sexy at all.
In fact, one year, I remember it was full of injuries, as the runners kept crashing into a pole. The crowd of onlookers tried to direct traffic, but the runners blindly just wanted to go straight.
posted by jozxyqk at 5:17 AM on December 13, 2007

At my university, this happened with the first snow of the year, usually in the end of october.
posted by absalom at 5:43 AM on December 13, 2007

If you want more laughs and wankery, browse through the Davis Square LJ some more. Beyond the 3.2 million posts about the snow this afternoon, you can so much more ZOMG Wankery than just this naked run thing.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:56 AM on December 13, 2007

But I think the biggest problem facing newspapers, content-wise, is the continually decreasing number of people creating the content.

The decreasing number of people reading the content is probably more of a crisis for newspapers, sadly.

I don't get the fuss. I don't think that there can be much of an expectation these days that mass public nudity won't end up with photos and/or video on the web. (I don't think that that is a great trend, but not liking it doesn't make it not happen, you know?) I am happy that I went to college in the days when sending a photo over the internet was a major endeavor, so photography of youthful nakedness mostly just ended up in the college newspaper. But if I were in college today, I would choose to be naked, or not, knowing that photos on the internet were a likely outcome, for better or worse.
posted by Forktine at 7:25 AM on December 13, 2007

Freezboy,

I read Auditi's comments, (as well as complaints directed directly to Auditi) thanks to your help.

The students need to remember that they are not the authority that decides who is welcome on the Rez quad. The only authority that could have asked Auditi Guha not to shoot stills and video was Tufts University. Since Auditi said she identified herself to campus police and stood by an officer for the entire event, it is safe to believe she had permission to be there. The officer could have asked her to leave, but didn't.

The students also need to remember that they don't need to give their consent in order to be photographed or quoted. Regardless of whether you are drunk, you are still responsible for your own actions. If you want to walk around naked without fear of being photographed, erect a privacy fence or have the event indoors, or have the authority at your private institution agree to forewarn that photography is prohibited.

Unfortunately for Auditi, in her comment she admits to plagiarizing Wikipedia. Honest of her to own up to it, but dishonest of her to plagiarize. When people can question your honesty, it makes you less effective as a journalist. Not to mention that people may question whether she really identified herself to campus police when she arrived...
posted by bugmuncher at 7:30 AM on December 13, 2007

I've witnessed NQR a couple of times. My favorite was the guy who painted his penis like an elephant. Now that's school spirit.
posted by fermezporte at 9:31 AM on December 13, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Oh, actually, now that I think about it, I think at my Uni it was only the rooks who had to do it. The rest of the corps threw snowballs at them. We civvies sat in our dorms and watched from above.
posted by absalom at 9:54 AM on December 13, 2007

Back in the 70s, during the streaking fad, all the guys in my dorm decided to run naked through the quad, during what was then referred to as a "quad party". I know people took still photos (this was RIT after all), but I don't think anyone shot movies. Of course there was no YouTube or Flickr then. And I'm sure those negatives are either gone or in a dusty attic somewhere. Or so I hope.
posted by tommasz at 10:23 AM on December 13, 2007

This comment from "Outraged Student" is my fave:

"NQR is a Tufts Tradition, NOT a Media Sensation. Tufts Students, unite against this media outrage by joining this Facebook group on the Tufts network:

JOIN & UNITE!"

Fight the, um, Power, or whatever...
posted by cows of industry at 10:43 AM on December 13, 2007

I actually just joined that group so that I could say this on the "Wall,"

HI, I CAN CANCEL PLEASE TEH VIDEO?!1!?! I NAKED BUT NOT EXPECT PPL TO SEE ME. PLZ, YOU VIOLATE MY RITES. NO VIDEO. KTHX.

That, folks, is a MeFi comment run through the Facebook filter.
posted by coolhappysteve at 4:21 PM on December 13, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Bugmuncher. Lets just say that your concept of journalism and mine are diametrically opposed.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 6:23 PM on December 13, 2007

I still have a hard time believing that any real journalist worth reading would give a frikken rats azz about the whining complaints of some drunken naked frat boy running around dangling his junk in public.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 6:27 PM on December 13, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

We live in an era where most people have cell phones -- and those phones have cameras which record events such as students getting tasered with the resulting footage uploaded online. If you're gonna run around outside naked with a large group of others doing the same, it's likely you'll be photographed/filmed with the results turning up somewhere on the Web.
posted by ericb at 10:47 AM on December 14, 2007