Today in History: Nude Olympics, caught on camera

It was February 13, 1992. As part of an almost twenty-year-old tradition, on the night of the first substantial snowfall of the year, four hundred sophomores “[stripped] down to their smiles and [circled] Holder courtyard several times.” Katherine Issel ’95, a freshman on the ice hockey team and the first female torchbearer, led the pack to Palmer Square, then up Nassau Street and back to campus. 

“Our sophomore group on the team was really close and amazing,” Issel told the ‘Prince’ in a recent interview. “It was my freshman year, and maybe [in] October or November, they decided I should be the first female torchbearer.” Issel lived in Holder Hall, which was a requirement for torchbearers, who led the Nude Olympians.

Following the festivities, news would break of three near-deaths, and a videotape that an undercover police detective took to incriminate participants. Thirty-one Princeton students were eventually charged with lewdness and disorderly conduct. Today in history — May 6, 1992 — the ‘Prince’ announced that their lawyers had pleaded not guilty to the charges on the students’ behalf, eliciting fear that the videotape would enter the public domain.

The 1992 Nude Olympics were the largest in recent history — 400 students participated, including 100 women, the most to participate at that point. In January, the borough police chief had warned sophomores to keep the Olympics confined to Holder Courtyard, but this warning was ignored. After a party in Holder Hall on Feb. 13, during which the women’s ice hockey team abstained from drinking because of a game the next day, the nude Olympians took off their clothes, and ran into the courtyard.

“Everyone started doing their jumping jacks. I had the torch, so I led everyone onto Nassau, because my teammates were telling me where to go — I [had] no idea what [I was] doing. We circled back and we came in and we had the arch sing. Then, we got dressed and walked out to the Street,” Issel explained.

However, during the — mostly — drunken merriment, three students were taken to Princeton Medical Center. Two female students passed out from intoxication, and a male student fell out of the window of his third-floor Joline dormitory, breaking his jaw and kneecap, losing several teeth, and suffering lacerations. The Nude Olympians also shattered a $1,300 stained-glass window at J.B. Winberie’s, and the Class of 1994 later had to raise money to pay for its repair.

In the aftermath, students also discovered that plainsclothed officers posted on Nassau Street had filmed the nude Olympians in order to find and charge any identifiable individuals. Townspeople sometimes had filmed and photographed the annual event, according to Issel, but nothing ever came of it.

The Princeton police began asking students during interviews to identify themselves and others in a stack of photographs. Some students reported that the police were using a class yearbook to identify Olympians in the tape. Others, such as Edmund Wierzbicki ’94, claimed that the police tried to coerce him to identify himself in a photograph — even though he had not participated in the Olympics.

“[The police] told me the video tape is in color and a lot sharper,” Wierzbicki told the ‘Prince’ in 1992. “They were basically trying to trick me into confessing.” He added, “Without me admitting it was me, I guess they couldn’t do anything.”

As of April 15, almost thirty students had been identified by detectives. 

“When I got back, all of my roommates said that so many police… had been calling to talk to me,” Issel said. She had left campus for a month after the Nude Olympics to compete for Team USA in the 1992 Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship in Finland. She added, “I missed all of it, thankfully. I’m so glad I was gone, and I’m so glad there were no phones.”

On April 24, the ‘Prince’ reported that charges had been brought against 31 students and published a front-page list of each student’s name. 

“There goes my political career. I can never be president now,” Jennifer Dellmuth ’94 told the ‘Prince’ after being charged with lewdness. She added, “Why aren’t [the police] out there catching criminals? I shouldn’t be arrested for running around nude. They should be paying me.”

The students’ attorneys pleaded not guilty to lewdness and disorderly conduct on their behalf on May 4. This meant the case would likely go to trial, which would also mean the video of the Nude Olympics would enter public domain. However, in a twist of fate, Judge Russell Annich Jr., who was supposed to preside over the case, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol on May 18 after crashing his BMW into a Princeton professor’s car — leaving the Nude Olympics case in the lurch.

In the end, the students entered a plea bargain, agreeing to “plead guilty to violating a Borough disorderly persons ordinance,” in exchange for the lewdness charge being dropped. Twenty-one students were still fined $200, but half of that charge would be levied if they completed 18 hours of community service. Nine others were fined without the community service option.

Despite the anti-climactic end to the case, the 1992 Nude Olympics stirred controversy  about the Princeton police department’s priorities and tactics. A letter to the editor of Town Topics accused the police of being unable to “differentiate between a prank and a crime.” The problems also raised questions about the feasibility of the Nude Olympics itself. With technology rapidly developing, it was only a matter of time before a recording of the Nude Olympics would be distributed for the world to see. The University administration, including University President Harold Shapiro GS ’64, were also concerned about alcohol abuse, injuries, and sexual assault.

“Today, I guess with all this social media, it [should be banned]. In my experience, it was so benign, but there was a lot of drinking, and that was just an unfortunate thing,” Issel said. 

The Nude Olympics were officially banned in 1999 after 10 students were hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, and the tradition has slowly faded into Princeton myth. However, for most of those who participated in or watched it, the Nude Olympics remains a prominent moment in their Princeton careers, never to be forgotten.

Lucia Zschoche is the associate editor for Archives and an assistant Features editor for the ‘Prince.’ 

Please send any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.