Playboy auditions 35 despite community opposition
Students protest against use of university's name, obtain 1,196 signatures for petition
Nathan Gregory
Issue date: 3/23/07 Section: News
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Photographers from Playboy magazine held auditions at Hotel Chester in Starkville earlier this week for its upcoming college pictorial "Girls of the SEC."
Kim Mizuno, contributing photographer for the magazine, said 35 people auditioned to be in the pictorial.
"The turnout has been low, but the quality has been great," Mizuno said. "The age requirement [in Mississippi] is 21, so automatically that takes out three years' worth of prospects. Whenever you shoot college girls ... you have a narrow window of opportunity for girls, and when you have an age requirement, you have an even smaller window."
"A lot of girls didn't know about the age requirement and had already signed up online," he said. "I sent out an e-mail to all the girls with the age requirement, and a lot of girls had to cancel because of that. They were disappointed because they wanted to do it, but that's the law of the land."
News of the publication's intentions to use Mississippi State's name and was met with disdain from some members of the student body.
Junior human sciences major Carli McClure was one of a group of students who spent nearly two days gathering signatures for a petition opposing the use of the university's name in the pictorial.
"We are not standing against Playboy in itself. We are against Playboy being affiliated with Mississippi State," McClure said. "[The petition] has nothing to do with women posing. It has to do with women posing ... using Mississippi State's gear."
The group obtained 1,196 signatures in 36 hours. Mississippi State alumnus and protester Noland Bullen said he was pleased with the response.
"We were actually surprised," Bullen said. "That's about as many [participants] as most student body elections."
Senior interdisciplinary studies major Jordan Graham helped start the petition and said he wanted more time to continue getting signatures.
"In such a short amount of time, I was [satisfied with the number of signatures], but I wish we would've had more time, because I wish that voice could've been louder."
Kim Mizuno, contributing photographer for the magazine, said 35 people auditioned to be in the pictorial.
"The turnout has been low, but the quality has been great," Mizuno said. "The age requirement [in Mississippi] is 21, so automatically that takes out three years' worth of prospects. Whenever you shoot college girls ... you have a narrow window of opportunity for girls, and when you have an age requirement, you have an even smaller window."
"A lot of girls didn't know about the age requirement and had already signed up online," he said. "I sent out an e-mail to all the girls with the age requirement, and a lot of girls had to cancel because of that. They were disappointed because they wanted to do it, but that's the law of the land."
News of the publication's intentions to use Mississippi State's name and was met with disdain from some members of the student body.
Junior human sciences major Carli McClure was one of a group of students who spent nearly two days gathering signatures for a petition opposing the use of the university's name in the pictorial.
"We are not standing against Playboy in itself. We are against Playboy being affiliated with Mississippi State," McClure said. "[The petition] has nothing to do with women posing. It has to do with women posing ... using Mississippi State's gear."
The group obtained 1,196 signatures in 36 hours. Mississippi State alumnus and protester Noland Bullen said he was pleased with the response.
"We were actually surprised," Bullen said. "That's about as many [participants] as most student body elections."
Senior interdisciplinary studies major Jordan Graham helped start the petition and said he wanted more time to continue getting signatures.
"In such a short amount of time, I was [satisfied with the number of signatures], but I wish we would've had more time, because I wish that voice could've been louder."
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