First Rain
Encyclopedia
First Rain is an annual event held at the University of California, Santa Cruz
(UCSC) which began at Porter College
. It is also known as the Naked Run or Porter Run. During the first rainfall of the school year, students run naked through the campus, generally starting at Porter College.
. Students, afraid to sleep inside the Porter College dorms
, would sleep outside in the quad
. Upon developing an outside lifestyle of playing small games like Simon Says
, students dared each other to strip and run around campus naked. Historically, First Rain runs had prerequisites to be met before beginning: The run would only form on a school night, and rain had to fall nonstop for the entire day. At 10:00 pm, the run would begin in Porter. By the late 1990s,the rules became simplified: as soon as the heavy rains of the year fell, students were to disrobe and run. Over the past several years, First Rain's prerequisite formation rules have continued to be relaxed, as nonstop rain would sometimes not occur before Winter Break. Aiming to make this event a yearly tradition as it is at other universities, the students decided on running during the first rain of every school year (since other events, like the first school day or first snow had already been taken by other universities).
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
(UCSC) which began at Porter College
Porter College
Benjamin F. Porter College, a residential college at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is located on the lower west side of the university, south of Kresge College and north of College Eight. The college was founded in 1969 as College Five and formally dedicated on November 21, 1981...
. It is also known as the Naked Run or Porter Run. During the first rainfall of the school year, students run naked through the campus, generally starting at Porter College.
History
First Rain started in fall of 1989, following the weeks of the Loma Prieta earthquakeLoma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...
. Students, afraid to sleep inside the Porter College dorms
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
, would sleep outside in the quad
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
. Upon developing an outside lifestyle of playing small games like Simon Says
Simon says
Simon says is a children's game for three or more players where one player takes the role of 'Simon' and issues instructions, to the other players, which should only be followed if prefaced with the phrase 'Simon says', for example 'Simon says jump in the air'...
, students dared each other to strip and run around campus naked. Historically, First Rain runs had prerequisites to be met before beginning: The run would only form on a school night, and rain had to fall nonstop for the entire day. At 10:00 pm, the run would begin in Porter. By the late 1990s,the rules became simplified: as soon as the heavy rains of the year fell, students were to disrobe and run. Over the past several years, First Rain's prerequisite formation rules have continued to be relaxed, as nonstop rain would sometimes not occur before Winter Break. Aiming to make this event a yearly tradition as it is at other universities, the students decided on running during the first rain of every school year (since other events, like the first school day or first snow had already been taken by other universities).