I don’t know about you, but I don’t often consider college campuses to be on my “Top Ten Places I Want to be Naked” list. However, some Ivy League student groups are working to wildly reshape the conversation around public nudity – starting with streaking on campus.

Brown University may not boast it on their admissions webpage, but they are home to the (in)famous Brown University Naked Society – colloquially known as BUNS. Twice a year, this co-ed student group hosts a Naked Donut Run, bestowing sweet treats upon their peers while in the buff. The group justifies their escapades with the naked truth – they think that “being naked is pretty fun” (B.U.N.S!., n.d.). 

Just one state and a few hours away, Yale University students have been known to engage in similar nude shenanigans. These scholars gather biannually for a run throughout campus during which they procure candies to pass out while perfectly pantsless (Tsouris, 2022).

One might assume college students + nudity = sexual. Student experiences vary, but these groups generally don’t promote these activities as fetishistic. In fact, some students outwardly claim the opposite.

One participant in Yale’s so-called “naked parties” notes that you may find yourself admiring the bodies of your peers, “but it never goes beyond that because there’s no reason for it to,” (Tsouris, 2022). Rather, these are opportunities to destigmatize the natural state of the human body – both those of yourself and others.

Higher education students are not the only people embracing body neutrality. Over the past several years, more and more states have taken to revising their public indecency laws as they pertain to nudity.

Many states (including Colorado) have eliminated bans on women going topless in public after determining previous laws only allowing men to mosey around bare-chested were a violation of equal rights. Only three states (Indiana, Tennessee, and Utah) have explicit laws barring showing “female breast in public” (Free the nipple states 2025, n.d.). 

Further, most states don’t necessarily fully outlaw public nudity. Many states have ambiguous laws that could be construed to be in favor of or against rocking it buck-naked. Some make distinctions that public nudity isn’t considered indecent exposure unless the exposure was done with the intent to “arouse or offend” (Indecent exposure laws by state, n.d.).

Nudity sits at an interesting crossroads in society’s moral zeitgeist. Depending on the time period, age, gender, etc. of those involved, existing in public the same way one was born could be completely inconspicuous – or could cost jail time and a hefty fine. Especially in the case of nudity on college campuses, pro-nudists seem to adhere to the idea that they can’t catch us all.

Seeing how Ivy League students are no strangers to baring it all, I wonder if our community college peers are bound to follow (birthday) suit.

Citations 

B.U.N.S!. (n.d.). https://buns.fyi/ 

Indecent exposure laws by state – findlaw. (n.d.). https://www.findlaw.com/state/criminal-laws/indecent-exposure-laws-by-state.html 

Free the nipple states 2025. (n.d.) worldpopulationreview.com. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/free-the-nipple-states 

Tsouris, I. (2022). Yale’s naked truth. Yale Daily News. https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/02/17/yales-naked-truth/