Eight Grade 12 students from Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, including a number of Indo-Canadians, chose to follow a controversial end of school traditions of running in the halls naked, called streaking, but now are bummed out because the new school principal decided to teach them one final lesson by banning them from their graduation ceremony for the lewd act.
SURREY – Eight Grade 12 students from Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, including a number of Indo-Canadians, chose to follow a controversial end of school traditions of running in the halls naked, called streaking, but now are bummed out because the new school principal decided to teach them one final lesson by banning them from their graduation ceremony for the lewd act.
Jason Singh was one of eight boys who dropped his trousers and ran through the school earlier this month, earning them a three-day suspension and a ban from attending graduation on Wednesday.
“I thought the suspension would happen for sure, but I didn’t think the commencement would be taken away,” Singh told CTV News.
Students who watched the spectacle say they heard screams and watched as the naked boys sprayed cans of shaving cream.
Surrey school board spokesman Doug Strachan said administrators were not amused.
“The car that they ran into left in a way that wasn’t very safe, the fire alarm was pulled, apparently shaving cream was sprayed in faces,” he said, adding that the boys should have known better.
“The students and parents were well aware of the potential consequences, and the decision was made by the students to go ahead.”
But students say the punishment is unprecedented.
“There’s streakers every year and I’ve never heard of any of them getting their commencements taken away,” grade 12 student Migual Watkins said.
Fellow senior Jessy Singh said graduation is meant for families — not just students.
“My mom would really hate it if I didn’t go to my commencement, and just to take it away from the whole family because of one streaking incident, I don’t think it’s fair,” he said.
Some students, like Shiv Naidu, had planned to boycott commencement in protest.
“They’re like my family and if my family’s not going to go, I’m not going to want to go,” he said.
Despite the harsh consequences, there is already talk at Lord Tweedsmuir of carrying on the streaking tradition next year.
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