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.

Jeffrey Gesner (senior-aerospace engineering), one of the other students charged with open lewdness and disorderly conduct, said, like the other students charged, he will not be contesting his charges. Instead, he will participate in an Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition (ARD) program.

By taking advantage of the ARD option, the students will not issue a plea of guilty or not guilty, said Penn State Police Chief Steve Shelow. Instead, they will participate in a program that, once completed, will wipe the charges from their records.

"It's a one-time opportunity. It tends to have some educational value associated with it, community service associated with it," Shelow said. "Assuming the person completes the program satisfactorily, [the charge] is wiped away as if it never happened."

Though Gesner isn't contesting his charges, he said he doesn't regret streaking.

"What it all boils down to is that I just wanted to prove to myself that I had the balls to do it," he said. "When this is all said and done, I'm going to remember that night for the rest of my life. The way I see it is, a couple of kids go to jail, and the tradition lives on."