A naked man on a bicycle with a sparkler in his mouth pedaled down South University Avenue at midnight after the last day of classes, but nobody seemed to mind - not even the police.
Spectators lined the streets of Ann Arbor on the night of April 22 to watch hundreds of their peers bare all and take part in the annual Naked Mile.
The event is a continuation of a tradition the Michigan crew team began, but now many students participate just for fun.
"The crew team started the naked mile in the '70s" said Kinesiology first-year student Jeanine Seeger, a Michigan crew-team member. "They did it to celebrate, but I'm not sure exactly what."
Engineering sophomore Steve Scanio, also a Michigan crew-team member, said the graduating crew-team members wanted to "air it all."
"It really relives the stress of the year," Scanio said.
Although the tradition was founded by the crew team, the run is now celebrated by both graduating seniors and many underclass students, along with a crowd of spectators that greatly outnumber the participants.
"It's a way of shedding your clothes for graduation - as if you're starting something new," SNRE senior Todd Clements said after he finished the run.
LSA senior Amy St. Clair said she waited until her graduating year to run. She said the mile of freedom lived up to her expectation.
"I wanted to run since I was a freshman," St. Clair said. "It's something I'll never forget. It was so liberating."
Dan Cooper, an LSA senior, said the run should be limited to University seniors.
"I said, 'this is my senior year and I've waited all these years to run,'" Cooper said. "It needs to be kept a senior tradition. I loved it."
Ann Arbor Police Sgt. Larry Jerue said that although the event technically does not abide by all laws, AAPD does not increase police in the area during the run.
"There certainly is a criminal aspect in indecent exposure," Jerue said. "(However) we do not plan to arrest people participating in the run."
Jerue said the that even though the AAPD does not make arrests, they do not encourage students to run.
"We do not endorse (the Naked Mile,) but it's good intended fun," he said. "If we were going to do something, we would come in at the end when everyone is tired - it would not be much of a chase."
Several students said they were talked into running by their friends.
"I was not going to run, I was embarrassed," LSA senior Kim Ligi said. "(My friends) convinced me to run. After I had a little beer I was more comfortable. I wasn't embarrassed at all."
Engineering senior Aaron Sinka said the influence of friends and alcohol made the choice to run much easier for him.
"I was drunk and all of my friends wanted to run," Sinka said. "Everyone was standing around taking off their clothes and I decided, 'I can do that.'"
A few alumni return to the University to repeat the Mile.
"I run it every other year," said Tim Stypinski, who graduated in '95. "It's Ann Arbor and you don't get to do things like this in other cities."
Many underclass students gathered up the nerve to run the mile alongside the great number of seniors.
"I ran it last year and I'm going for a clean sweep," Scanio said.
Still, many people could not bear to bare it all this year.
"It's a whole bunch of seniors thumbing their nose at society," said Michael Farina, an Engineering junior.
"Now is not my time to run, I will when I am a senior."
Mike Hill, a University alumnus and spectator of the Naked Mile said he didn't run because "... I didn't have the proper gear."
JOSH BIGGS/Daily
One student celebrates the end of Winter term by spinning the cube in the nude after taking part in the annual Naked Mile.