This year, UVM was ranked twice on Campus Grotto?s ?100 Greatest College Traditions? list. UVM?s annual 4/20 tradition of gathering on the campus green landed No. 79 on the list while the semiannual Naked Bike Ride placed in the top 50 on the list, ranking No. 47. For years students have celebrated the semester?s end by stripping down to their ?birthday suits? and biking, longboarding or running laps around the central campus green. The event takes place on the last day of classes each semester. Many students take pride in the values of the Naked Bike Ride. ?It represents the freedom of expression of UVM students and the collective revelation of our bodies and our weather,? junior Sarah Gibson said. ?I love the Naked Bike Ride.?Some see the race as a demonstration of UVM?s free spirited nature and attitude of acceptance. ?I like that people here are open enough to be able to do that in a mature way,? senior Langston McCullough said. ?At a lot of other schools I don?t think it would go very well.?Ranked No. 1 on Campus Grotto?s list is Indiana University?s Little 500, an actual bike race with fully clothed bikers. ?Personally I think that sounds way better,? McCullough said. ?I wish we had a better tradition, but the Naked Bike Ride makes UVM what it is.?The Naked Bike Ride has a complex history. The event replaced former UVM tradition, the Kake Walk, a parody of the Cake Walk performed by slaves in the 19th century as entertainment for their owners, according to a previous article in the Cynic published Dec. 13, 2007. UVM?s Kake Walk consisted of a contest in which students in blackface paint would perform choreographed walks in order to win a cake. The tradition was deemed inappropriate by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was discontinued by the school in 1969, according to the article.In 1996 UVM student Erika Kutcher completed the first Naked Bike Ride with her friend Carrie Roy. The tradition gained popularity as a way to honor Kutcher, who passed away in 2005, according to a Cynic article published May 3, 2010. Though loved by a significant portion of the student body, the Naked Bike Ride is viewed as unsafe by others. ?I think more people need to know before going that people will take pictures of you or you will be touched,? junior Andy Galligan said. ?It might have been cool when it was started but now it?s all around this drinking culture,? she said. ?Obviously getting naked is awesome, but the environment is really unsafe,? she said. Galligan said she believes the Naked Bike Ride fosters the attitude that ?it?s okay to sexually assault someone because they?re drunk, they won?t notice.?Many other students do not think the tradition poses a threat to students? safety. ?I haven?t had any negative experiences,? senior Hillary Laggis said. ?It?s a liberating experience of self-acceptance.?The tradition has gained school-wide fame and even inspired discussion in classrooms. ?I?ve never done the Naked Bike Ride,? junior Tierney Hally said. ?But in my religion classes we?ve talked about how it serves as a community experience to allow the students of UVM to feel connected to each other.?In November of 2011, UVM announced that it would no longer support the Naked Bike Ride or provide funding and resources for the event, according to a letter from John Bramley, Interim President at the time.Despite the recent change, the tradition lives on with enthusiasm. ?It?s important enough to the students that it will keep happening,? Hally said. ?I think it?s one of those things that you can?t leave UVM without having done,? she said.