Thousands of university students run in their underwear

A tradition at UCLA University of Los Angeles caused a stir on the social network TikTok when a student posted a video of the traditional end-of-semester underwear race a few weeks ago.

Eliana Groves’ video has been shared over 8,000 times and received over 41,000 likes. Thousands of students can be seen in Los Angeles walking around in their underwear in a festive atmosphere.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the event takes place quarterly on the UCLA campus. It takes place on Wednesday at midnight in the week of the final exams.

According to the University’s student newspaper, Daily Bruin, the race has become a highly anticipated event since it was created by a student in 2001. There was a tradition at UCLA back then: screaming at midnight during final exam week.

However, the institution had decided to end it for safety reasons, which had frustrated theater student Eric Whitehead. So he created the race in underwear. The event, which attracted just a dozen students in its first year, has grown in popularity with between 8,000 and 10,000 people in their underwear taking part in the races since 2009.

The aim is to allow students to be distracted and to reduce stress during the final exams.