UC Berkeley Expels Campus Nudist for Naked Disobedience

The Naked Guy, a UC Berkeley junior who gained national notoriety last semester for his nude wanderings around the campus, has been expelled for refusing to wear “proper attire.”

Andrew Martinez, 19, had been temporarily suspended in November pending the outcome of a student conduct hearing--which he attended in the buff. He was informed in writing Saturday of the expulsion decision, which resulted from that hearing.

“Now they’ve expelled me, and it’s almost, like, an excommunication,” Martinez said. “I’m not allowed to go to school, which severely hampers somebody’s chances to succeed.”

Martinez can appeal his expulsion to the vice chancellor of undergraduate affairs, but he said, “I don’t know if I’ll actually get around to it.” He said he plans to sue the university for violating “some kind of constitutional protection.”

University officials acknowledged that expulsion was an extremely rare penalty. “We just had to take some action, and he was warned repeatedly that this would happen,” said Jesus Mena, a spokesman for the university. “It was becoming very disruptive in the classrooms. We had quite a few complaints from students . . . several of whom said they didn’t want to go back to class because a naked man was showing up.”

Martinez initially outraged the campus administration in September, when he organized the university’s first “nude-in.” He then regularly strutted his stuff on campus, and occasionally attended classes clad only in sandals. In response, the university issued a policy in November banning nudity on campus.

Martinez contends that he is not trying to attract attention but is protesting social norms that he says do not make sense.

“We’re socialized to think that a lot of things are necessary in life, but I just came to think that it’s completely useless to wear clothes,” he explained in an interview after his November suspension. “Why should I hide my penis?”

Tuesday he said: “The reason to wear clothes is to repress sexuality, and I don’t want to take part in that. I don’t want to facilitate the power structure by my conformity.”

Martinez said he plans to write a book and appear on talk shows to discuss his experiences championing nudism at Berkeley, as well as fight to legalize marijuana.

“I’ve gotten (a lot of) free propaganda,” he said cheerfully. “I think it’s really helped the cause and the movement--if there is one.”