Boxers, Briefs and Bills: “Undie Run” Has Its Costs

A small private university faces a large bill from the City of Orange for police costs incurred in preventing students from climbing the town square's fountain during the school's annual "Undie Run."

Chapman College students have in the past decade picked up the tradition from bigger schools, and have shed most of their clothing in a communal, late-night romp to celebrate the end of semesters.

The last two Undie Runs have cost the City of Orange an undetermined amount for police overtime costs, and about $13,000 to repair a 71-year-old fountain in Town Plaza damaged during December's romp. And for this spring's Undie Run, a temporary fence was placed around the fountain at a cost of $6,000.

The Orange County Register reports that the university will get a bill for the overtime once the city accountants tally it up. Who pays for the fence and damaged fountain has yet to be determined.

"We have not received a bill yet, this is news to us," said Harold W. Hewitt Jr., the school's executive vice president and chief operating officer. He said the school "will stand by our commitment to pay the city's costs."

The December version of the run was a charity fundraiser, and the clothes that were stripped off by students were sold to benefit underfed people in Africa. Underwear with a map of Africa on it was sold to raise money.

Police said 1,500 students stripped down to their briefs or panties and bra and reveled in the town square's fountain in December.

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