An unofficial student committee met Thursday to outline potential changes to the Undie Run route in order to save the tradition while addressing safety and financial concerns raised by UCLA and the city of Los Angeles.

For the last several years, Bruins have relieved their academic stress by turning out in their underwear at midnight on the Wednesday of finals week each quarter and going for a run.

As the run gained publicity and popularity, reports of vandalism, property damage, minor injuries and high levels of noise along the run’s original Westwood route prompted the university to redirect the run mostly on campus.

But the redirection created problems of its own, as participants damaged the Shapiro Fountain after the run and disturbed students in Powell, and De Neve residents complained of runners lingering loudly in the Plaza until very late, said PC Zai, Undergraduate Students Association Council Facilities commissioner.

Zai led Thursday’s informal meeting, which also included USAC facilities staff member Sherlyn Mossahebfar and self-identified Undie Run enthusiasts Christian Bogeberg and Dave Karlik.

The committee came up with a number of potential routes, but Zai stressed that all current plans are only tentative and that she would need to take any proposals to administration officials first and consider whether the routes could be changed in one fell swoop or if changes would need to be phased in to keep the multitude of participants organized.

Committee members said they have not decided whether the changes would go into effect for winter quarter’s run.

Karlik said their goal was to find “the path of least destruction.”

Zai explained that organizing the Undie Run is difficult because there is no formal committee or infrastructure in place to publicize decisions to runners.

“No one is actually in charge,” Zai said. “It’s like a flash mob.”

Nevertheless, university police and campus administration officials are looking to Zai and other student leaders to come up with a solution.

Throughout the meeting, Karlik enumerated concerns that would make potential routes either unfeasible to organize or unacceptable to city officials and runners.

He said the route must be wide enough to avoid bottlenecks, and it must avoid both downward inclines to reduce the risk of injury and upward inclines so that it remains attractive to all runners.

Starting points need to be conveniently located near apartments, while ending points need to be in places which do not encroach on university quiet areas, Karlik said.

The committee’s position is further complicated because once the Ronald Reagan Medical Center emergency room opens, UCPD will no longer be able to block off Gayley Avenue, which will serve as an emergency route, as they have in the past two runs.

Despite entertaining suggestions to direct the run off-campus, Zai said “the city will not agree” to those routes due to pressure from local homeowners’ associations.

The committee directed its attention to on-campus solutions and how to avoid problems with De Neve.

“It’s too communal (there),” Karlik said, adding that lingering spectators, rather than runners, caused problems.

Bogeberg proposed starting the run at the Bruin Bear and running the streets around Drake Stadium.

This would allow students to “do laps,” which Karlik said he hopes would result in runners dispersing gradually, creating a “trickle” through De Neve rather than a stampede.

The committee also proposed routes through Strathmore Drive as well as starting the run on Strathmore and then going around Drake Stadium.

“It’s on campus and doesn’t bother anyone,” said Mossahebfar.

The committee agreed to reconvene next week.