By Chelsie Anttila
Contributing Writer

A famous book says that people were once always naked, until an unfortunate event led them to feel shame.

This fall WestCo residents, whether nude or just amused, are confronting the ancient stigma against nudity

Somewhere in the official papers, it states that West College has been a "clothing-optional" living community since its inception in the ’60s. Thirty years later, some frosh living in WestCo have reported that it is primarily the 2 a.m. walk to the bathroom that has become clothing-optional.

These same frosh then proceed to disagree about their motivation for this nude voyage: is it simply more convenient to leave their clothing where it falls, or is it the thrill of walking about in the nude?

Ritu Sen ’01, a resident advisor (RA) in WestCo Three, said she supports the residents right to be nude "if they like that."

Echoing a Magic 8 Ball predication, Sen said it is "highly unlikely" she would wander or socialize nude in the dorm.

Many frosh said that they were not aware of WestCo’s nudity tradition WestCo when they decided to live there.

Tim Harrington ’03, another WestCo resident, considers exhibitionist/ prankster forms of nudity quite different than the kind of nudity traditionally endorsed by WestCo. Streaking and mooning a passerby from a moving vehicle are "athletic, like an intramural sport."

Harrington said WestCo’s nudity tradition drew him to WestCo.

"[Nudity is a] purer form of being," Harrington said.

Michael Bodel ’03 who once wore only a trash bag, diaper style, to a party, said he took WestCo’s nudist history into account when applying for housing, but acknowledge the problems associated with selective practice.

"People wouldn’t want to do it unless everyone does it," Bodel said.

Not quite everyone appears to be "doing it" – getting naked, that is – in WestCo One, but the clothing there appears more optional than in the neighboring dorms.

"Naked Time," which occurred there last Monday, attracted as many as 13 participants, and lasted for several hours, according to John Graham ’02, a WestCo One RA.

Graham said he is glad WestCo residents are "free with themselves and their bodies."

Resident Jonathan Hagen ’03, a Naked Time organizer, emphasized that being naked with other people is "not a sexual thing at all."

"It’s more about being emotionally comfortable," Hagen said.

Naked Guidance, WestCo’s dorm government meeting, became a semi-regular event last year with many residents attired in bathrobes or towels.

The same sort of trepidation appears evident this year.

As Bodel said, it is difficult to be naked with people "when you know you will sit next to them at MoCon."