WACO, Texas (ABP) — Playboy photographers held an open casting call April 18 at Baylor University, despite the university's discipline and suspension in recent years of students who posed in the magazine.
The magazine's photographers traveled to Baylor to solicit women for its “Girls of the Big 12” spread, set to appear in the October issue. Spreads featuring women from schools in prominent athletic conferences posing nude are annual features in Playboy.
The visit is nothing new for Baylor officials, who have dealt with the controversy off-and-on since 1981, when the editors of the student newspaper were fired after an editorial column questioned Baylor's policy against students posing for the magazine.
The return of the publication marks the first in four years. Playboy visits to Baylor in 1996 and 2002 caused problems, too.
A reported 15 Baylor women attended individual interviews in 2002, and 50 members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and four women were disciplined for posing clothed on an off-campus volleyball court. The punishment consisted of community service and essay writing. One woman who posed separately — wearing less — was suspended.
At the time, Playboy photographer David Rams told The Lariat, Baylor's student newspaper, he understood why the university had forbidden students to participate, although he disagreed with disciplining the students.
“I see [the administration's] right in having their opinion on what they feel is right,” he said. “They have a right not to like it, just as a father has a right not to like his 19-year-old daughter posing for Playboy. But if that's what she wants to do, they shouldn't expel her for it.”
This year, Baylor officials preempted the issue, sending a university-wide email that opposed the interviews, which were held at an undisclosed location and closed to the media.
“Associating with a magazine that is clearly antithetical to Baylor's mission would be considered a violation of the code of conduct as outlined in the Student Policies and Procedures,” the email said. It also said punishment could involve everything from verbal reprimands to expulsion, depending on each case.
Bethany McCraw, associate dean for Judicial and Legal Student Services, told The Lariat that the school's student policies and procedures outline Baylor's alignment with the “Christian principals as commonly perceived by Texas Baptists.” Even off-campus, she said, a failure to uphold such principles “detracts from the Christian witness Baylor strives to present to the world.”
Playboy has released a response, saying since Baylor belongs to the Big 12, “informed and consenting female Baylor students” should be included in a Big 12 spread.
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