» Beards, virginity auctions and streaking in this edition of the offbeat beat UWIRE: Powered by The Content Generation

About a month and a half into the school year, students can get pretty busy. Their classes and extracurricular activities are in full swing, midterms are popping up — the stress can lead people to act a little crazy. Beard competitions, virginity auctions and streaking are just some of the students’ wild behavior, all in this week’s offbeat beat.

Bidding for coed’s virginity passes $275,000

A torrent of media coverage is swirling after a Sacramento State graduate announced she was auctioning off her virginity.

The 22-year-old, who is using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan for safety reasons, announced the decision to sell her v-card on the Howard Stern radio show on Sept. 9.

“We live in a capitalist society,” Dylan said on the show. “Why shouldn’t I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?”

Dennis Hof, owner of the Nevada brothel Moonlite Bunny Ranch, brought Dylan to Stern’s attention. Dylan approached Hof with her sister, Avia, who worked at Hof’s ranch for three weeks two years ago.

“I’ve seen a lot of crazy things, but this is very unique,” Hof said in a phone interview.
With hundreds of offers already and bidding up to $275,000, Hof also claimed that a “rock star” and a “well-known male actor” contacted him and told him that they would outbid any other offers. Full story from The State Hornet

LSU student plans to participate in world beard competition

For some students, excessive facial hair is a nuisance. But for one LSU student, it’s a work of art.

James de Brueys, anthropology junior and bartender at The Chimes, has a particular side interest, and it’s one of the few that includes sideburnsDe Brueys plans to participate in the World Beard and Moustache Championships in May, and he’s already prepping for the competition.”I really like growing facial hair,” de Brueys said. “It’s a hobby.”

Held every two years, the 2009 Championships will be in Anchorage, Ala. Last year it was sponsored by the Handlebar Club and held in Brighton, England. The first event was held in Germany in 1990.

Beard Team USA, hosting this year’s competition, has several local chapters around the country. The different groups host social events and drink beer. Full story from The Daily Revielle

Penn State student fights streaking charges

Elizabeth Burke had never heard of the Mifflin Streak before a friend encouraged her to participate in it just before midnight on May 5.

“I figured, we’re in the middle of a college campus,” she said Thursday. “It’s some harmless fun. … I was not expecting to be charged.”

Burke (sophomore-liberal arts), along with five other Penn State students, was charged last month with open lewdness and disorderly conduct for running naked down Mifflin Road on May 5. One other student was charged with open lewdness, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Burke, however, has hired an attorney and is contesting her charge of open lewdness, arguing she did not cause others to be “alarmed and affronted,” as the law requires, because the people who saw her streaking lined Mifflin Road for the express purpose of watching the streak.

But Centre County district attorney Michael Madeira says the argument misinterprets the law. Open lewdness charges are valid if the action was merely likely to affront someone; whether or not the action actually affronted someone is irrelevant, he said.

“This is a novel argument that has not been raised in the context of more than 20 years (of similar cases during finals week),” he said.Full story from The Daily Collegian

U. Colorado students, officials at odds over slacklining

It’s not an uncommon sight on the University of Colorado campus: barefoot students, balanced a few feet off the ground, carefully putting one foot in front of the other as they cross flat ropes tied between two trees.

The sport’s called slacklining, and it’s pitting proponents — the kind of avidly outdoorsy Colorado students who also scramble up rock faces in their spare time — against safety-conscious campus officials.

“It’s something that you get a little bit of a fever for,” freshman Eric Soehngen said. “You get up there and it’s difficult and you want to get better at it, so you don’t stop. You go for a few hours and you just keep going until you figure it out.”

Lately, though, CU police and housing officials have been stopping students from slacklining on campus, saying it’s dangerous to the rope-walkers and the trees around which the cords often are tied. The enforcement has lead some students to open talks with the university in hopes of reaching a compromise. Full story from Colorado Daily

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Beards, virginity auctions and streaking in this edition of the offbeat beat

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