AAPD: Arrests more likely at Naked Mile

By David Enders

Daily Staff Reporter

Students running nude through the streets in this year's Naked Mile may be donning handcuffs, according to the Ann Arbor Police Department.

Although law enforcement officials at the annual event have made arrests for public drunkenness, their main concern has been providing safety for the runners. But last week the AAPD said they will be more likely to arrest streaking students than ever before.

"There's a tremendous increased potential for arrests over previous years," AAPD Deputy Chief Larry Jerue said. "We've tried all other avenues absent of arrest."

Jerue said that increased officer presence and the use of video cameras at "strategic locations" will help the AAPD enforce the law.

In the past, arrests made at the Naked Mile have been alcohol- related. But an indecent exposure charge in the state of Michigan is a misdemeanor and a conviction results in having the offender's name recorded on the state's list of sex offenders for 25 years. The document is made available to the public.

Jerue also mentioned some of the other dangers associated with the run, including rowdy spectators and traffic.

"It's extremely dangerous for participants and spectators alike for a crowd to be moving across Washtenaw (Avenue)," Jerue said.

"The thing that scares me the most are some of the spectators - there are some awful seedy people there," he said, mentioning an incident last year in which three women were struck with a bull whip and various gropings.

"There's got to be a better way to mark the end of school," he said.

But whether or not the AAPD makes arrests for nudity this year, they can only make them on city property. Traditionally, runners strip down near the rock at the intersection of Washtenaw Avenue and Hill Street and do not put their clothes back on until they reach the cube in Regents' Plaza, but the crowds are considerably thicker as the route moves through the Diag, where the campus Department of Public Safety has jurisdiction. Their role is not expected to be as strict.

"The throngs of people are so large it makes it unsafe to make arrests," DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said.

Brown also said that the fact the last day of classes falls on a Friday for the first time since the Naked Mile has been run is a concern. "Actual University student participation will be down, but outsider participation will be up," she predicted.

It is also likely the decision of the Michigan men's rowing and lacrosse clubs not to participate in this year's event will discourage student participation. The rowing club, which started the Naked Mile in 1986, has become increasingly disenchanted with the activities that have become associated with it, such as the danger of sexual assault and the exploitation of pictures and video taken at the event.

Weather also can have an effect on the turnout for the event - the extended forecast for Ann Arbor on Friday has low temperatures in the 30s or 40s and a chance of rain.

Like the annual Hash Bash celebration that takes place on the first Saturday in April, the Naked Mile has become increasingly less student-oriented over the last few years. A campaign to increase awareness of the dangers of the run has included President Bollinger's annual letter to seniors, as well as an advertising campaign. A letter to all other undergraduate students from interim Vice President of Student Affairs E. Royster Harper is expected this week.

"It's not that the University wants people not to have fun, it's that we're fearful of people's safety," the letter stated.

While estimations vary, a crowd of between 8,000 and 10,000 people came out to watch 400 to 800 runners last year.

The Naked Mile is one of the last events in what has become an increasingly rare tradition at colleges and universities across the country. Princeton University, for instance, canceled its 25 year-old Nude Olympics last year due to safety concerns.

Despite the AAPD's new stance, students already planning to run the Naked Mile said they still would, but that they will be more cautious.

"If it looks like I'm going to get hauled into jail, I wouldn't do it," Business junior Brian Hayden said. Hayden's friend, Art and Design junior Casey Fruschour agreed. Both ran the mile last year for the first time. "If they tell me to put my clothes back on, I will," he said.

Neither were concerned about their pictures showing up on the Internet. "I don't think a picture of me on the Internet would last too long," Hayden said. "There probably wouldn't be a lot of people looking for it."