A student-run magazine featuring pictures of undergraduates is a possibility at Dartmouth, according to some members of the College's Council on Student Organizations.
The Harvard Committee on College Life approved a proposal last week to produce a student-run magazine that will feature nude pictures of undergraduates -- and since then, many at Dartmouth have wondered if such a publication could be circulated on the College's campus.
Last week, Harvard's CCL voted in favor of a proposal to create Harvard's newest literary magazine -- with a twist. H Bomb will include sexually-themed articles as well as nude photos. The magazine finds its precedent in the Vassar College erotica magazine, Squirm.
Like the Harvard committee that approved H Bomb, Dartmouth's Committee on Student Organizations approves or rejects proposals for new student organizations. But unlike Harvard's committee, COSO is comprised exclusively of students who would be in charge of making the decision about whether a comparable magazine might be approved at Dartmouth.
"If a group came in front of COSO and had completed all of the requirements for recognition, I wouldn't say it is out of the question at all that COSO would consider passing it," COSO member Diana Zhang '06 said. "Feasibly it could work here if it matches all other rules. COSO tries not to exhibit personal views in decisions."
Other COSO members agreed.
"We have guidelines, and if it fits those guidelines we could agree," Elisabeth Sherman '06 said.
At Harvard, CCL member and Assistant Dean of the College Paul McLoughlin consulted the university's general counsel to "see if there were liability issues" with publishing pictures of nude students. In an attempt to solve this problem and avoid liability, students will not be allowed to take nude pictures inside of Harvard buildings.
Dartmouth College General Counsel member Bob Donin said that if Dartmouth students were to propose a magazine similar to H bomb, whether or not the magazine received recognition would be entirely up to COSO.
H-Bomb has been in the works since early December, when Katharina Baldegg '06 and Camilla Hrdy '05 first proposed the magazine.
"Initially there was some concern about the nudity aspect," Hrdy told The Crimson. But the CCL members "got past the fear of porn."
There is nothing in COSO's description of the "Responsibilities of Recognition" that could possibly be construed as standing in the way of a potential Dartmouth version of the new literary magazine, unless COSO interprets the proposal as violating the Dartmouth Principles of Community, Director of Student Activities Linda Kennedy said.
"To get recognition you have to have a purpose different from the purposes of other things that already have recognition," Kennedy said. "You must also have at least 10 students, a faculty adviser, and a constitution. Additionally, publications must present a mock-up of the issue that shows what they are about."
Kennedy would not speculate as to whether she thought such a proposal would be approved by COSO. She recalled, however, that Uncommon Threads, a women's issues journal recognized by COSO several years ago, ran an "R-rated" story about a lesbian encounter and "the College stood behind its publication."
Dartmouth does already have a literary magazine, The Stonefence Review, that publishes photographs. But the magazine has yet to publish photos of frontal nudity.
