He stands on the Quad with a sign, but Pete is not protesting anything. Instead, all he wants is to give you a hug.

‘Today’s a good day for hugs,’ Pete said while holding a cardboard sign with ‘free hugs’ written in black tape.

Known to many as ‘the free hugs guy,’ Pete started giving free hugs after Spring Break 2009, and he said it’s just something nice he wants to do for people on campus.

He’s not looking for attention or even any type of recognition. In fact, Pete wants his identity to remain anonymous and to be simply known as one who hands out free hugs.

‘It’s about taking the emphasis off me and putting it on the message,’ said Pete. ‘It is about the hugs, not me. … It’s nice for people to feel like there is someone who appreciates them and cares and is willing to be close.’

After hugging a ‘free hugs’ guy in London and hearing about an Australian campaign started by the original free-hugger, Juan Mann, Pete got the idea to start his own campaign at Syracuse University.

This social movement has become famous thanks to a YouTube video and ‘the free hugs’ song on iTunes, entitled ‘All the Same.’ It was also the center of much controversy, when Mann was banned from the campaign in October 2004 when, according to the Free Hugs Web site, police decided he was ‘a public liability.’

However, after submitting a petition with thousands of signatures, Mann was allowed to start giving hugs again. ‘In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs Campaign became phenomenal,’ according to the Free Hugs Campaign Web site.

Pete agrees and said that he often sees people on the Quad looking morbid and cold in the Syracuse weather, but they cheer up when they hug him.

‘He just looked really jolly and nothing in this world is free, so I thought it was a nice gesture,’ said Jenny Antonelli, a junior child and family studies major who walked up and hugged Pete. ‘It was nice, and it made me happy to see other people happy like him.’

While many like Antonelli are happy to receive a free hug, some are more apprehensive about hugging a stranger. Many won’t give Pete a hug but will give him a high-five or shake his hand instead.

‘I don’t hug strangers. I’m comfortable with my sexuality, but I was taught not to hug strangers,’ said Quentin Bronson, a freshman mechanical engineering major, before his friends persuaded him to give Pete a high-five.

Although some do not want to hug him, others are becoming regular huggers. Pete said many people have come up to him on the Quad and asked why he wasn’t out giving hugs and when he will be giving hugs again. But as a student, Pete said, being the ‘free hug guy’ comes second to schoolwork.

‘It’s something I do in my spare time, it’s not all consuming,’ Pete said. ‘If I have a paper or I have to go to work I try to get a little time in, but if I can’t, I can’t.’

Still, Pete tries to give as many hugs as he can. Even a few hugs, he thinks, can make someone’s day.

‘If you’re willing to put yourself out there and give a random guy a hug, it feels good,’ said Pete. ‘All I have is time and hugs and a smile. I hope it makes a difference.’

ampaye@syr.edu

Published on April 22, 2009 at 12:00 pm