Photographers from Playboy Magazine will come to Dartmouth this May to interview women who would like to pose for the "Women of the Ivy League" pictorial in its October back to school issue.
Photographer David Mecey from Playboy will interview prospective models at the Hanover Inn on May 8 and 9, Playboy spokeswoman Karen Ring said.
Ring said the models would be paid but would not discuss salary rates.
Playboy photographers previously came to Dartmouth for the magazine's annual back to school issue in 1979 and 1986.
"We do a conference for every back to school issue," Ring said. "It's very popular. It's one of our best issues. The readers love it."
Playboy is also interviewing women for the issue at all seven other Ivy League schools.
Female campus leaders expressed some concerns with Playboy's visit to campus.
"Obviously it's their prerogative to do so, but I think it's interesting that even at an Ivy League college, at one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, a woman's self-worth is still linked to her sex appeal rather than her ability in biology or whatever," Student Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 said.
"Now the new erotic image is the Ivy League porno queen," she said.
Lauren Lieberman '95 said she is stunned that Playboy still does such photo shoots.
"I'm appalled, and it amazes me to think that there are women here who would want to be in the magazine,"she said.
Lieberman is a member of the Untamed Shrews, an all-female performance group that does skits written by women about women's issues.
But Ring said women posing have the right to choose whether or not to pose. "That's the idea of being a feminist," she said.
Ring also said most models have positive experiences.
"It's a lot of fun. I've never heard a model say they never enjoyed it," Ring said.
"What's really fun for me is that most of the students don't have aspirations to be models or actresses," Ring said. "They just want to have fun with it and get back to their studies."
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said the College will not prevent Playboy from interviewing women who want to appear in the magazine.
"Playboy is free to come to campus and interview students, and I assume they may wish to take photographs," he said. "There's no College policy that would prohibit them access to students."
"It seems to me I'm in no position to dictate to students how they conduct their private lives, and the College is in no position to do that either," he said.
"Obviously there will be students and faculty and administration and others who feel that posing for a magazine like Playboy tends to further the objectification of women," Pelton added.
"But these are a person's private engagements that students have with an outside journal. And they are free to choose how to conduct themselves," Pelton said.
Director of the Women's Resource Center Giavanna Munafo said she will not spend too much time worrying about Playboy's presence.
"It's the same old Playboy stuff, but now it's here. But the same issues are here every day," Munafo said.
College spokesman Alex Huppe said "I think it's safe to say [students] kind of ignore the presence of Playboy on campus."
Playboy came to campus in 1986, but received only a lukewarm reception from Dartmouth students -- there were no protests and only about a dozen women inquired about the photo shoots.
Only two photographs of Dartmouth women wound up in the August issue of Playboy that year.
One woman was shown lying on her side on a rock overlooking a river, wearing a black wraparound that covered only her back and stomach, according to an August, 1986 article in the Valley News.
The other woman was wearing shorts and a cut-off Dartmouth t-shirt, the article said. It said she was shown being hoisted in front of a goal post by several football players, and only her legs and stomach were bared.
In 1979, Playboy's Ivy League issue caused a greater stir on campus. The Dartmouth Bookstore had to order extra copies to meet customer demand.
At the time, a student who posed for the issue said she appeared in the magazine in order to further expand her horizons.
"I went to Dartmouth for a liberal arts education," the student, who remained anonymous in the article, said.
"To me a complete education means experiencing as many different things as possible," she said. "When the opportunity to pose for Playboy arose, it was a chance to experience something I might never have again. So I went for it."
