The new collegiate fad of streaking has run its logical course, if it ever had one, in its infancy.
Just about everything that can be done nude has been done and the skinny-trotters, in their attempts to outdo each other, now are venturing into the obscene, the dangerous and the destructive.
One streaker was hit by a car on an Atlanta expressway and suffered a broken foot Wednesday, causing several minor wrecks among gawking motorists.
At least two couples engaged in sexual intercourse amid the streaking at the University of Tennessee. A group of coeds at the University of Florida stripped nude before lighted dormitory windows to the shouts of a crowd outside.
The nudity craze now has spread to the impressionable high school set.
The fad began with a lone male running naked across the Florida State University campus several weeks ago. Students on other campuses began streaking in pairs, then groups, and were joined by some coeds. Then it became a numbers game for the "national streaking title." Hundreds cavorted in the nude and, at last count, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was claiming the "title" with an estimated 895 streakers.
The first streakers, perhaps to emphasize their nudity, wore one article of clothing - shoes, boots socks, a tie, a scarf, a beach towel cape, a ski mask, a stocking over their heads. Holy Cross University got classy and wore top hats.
Participants ran, trotted, sauntered, walked, rode bicycles, motorcycles, convertibles, a firetruck and a wheelchair. One hobbled on crutches.
They ran at night and in broad daylight, in the spring-like weather of the South, in the chilly temps of New England.
They ran at first from dormitory to dormitory, then they took to the streets. They ran through sporting events, shopping centers, an ice rink, lunchrooms, libraries, buses, a St. Louis police station, and the Michigan legislature.
Some streakers even gave the fad political overtones. One nude girl had "Impeach Nixon" stamped on her buttocks, and there was a suggestion for a streak around the White House to "Make Nixon Bare the Truth."
The search for new horizons goes on.
One naked youth jumped from a small plane in a parachute 2,000 feet above West Georgia College and several other youths repeated the feat at other sites the following day.
Authorities have taken a tolerant view of the "springtime fad" so far, with a few exceptions, such as the University of Georgia, where city police had used tear gas to disperse angry students following the arrest of a streaker. The view of the police and educators is hardening and public indecency and disorderly conduct charges probably will be more strictly enforced as the fad wanes.
