Stanford students gather for mass kissing event

STANFORD, Calif., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Participants in the Full Moon on the Quad celebration at Stanford University in California said thousands of students came out for a night of mass kissing.

The event, which is sanctioned by the school, was held Oct. 22 and featured the students splitting into two groups, gay and straight, and then spending the midnight-1 a.m. hour locking lips with as many different people as possible, with each partner being asked for consent before each kiss, ABC News reported Monday.

"It used to be the seniors would give a girl a peck on the cheek and give them a rose, but it's evolved into something more modern," freshman Gabbi Fisher, 18, said.

School administrators said they provide free mouthwash for the event and inform students of the health risks involved with open-mouth kissing.

"The university provides students with a lot of information related to alcohol use and safe sex -- there are booths there about both," university spokeswoman Lisa Lapin said. "It's generally seen as a very fun tradition and one of the things students look forward to most when they arrive on campus freshman year."

Lapin said the tradition, usually held on the first full moon of the school year but delayed this year due to a conflict with homecoming, began in the 1900s and faded away before being brought back in the 1980s.

"Since then, it's grown in popularity," she said.