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Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Monday, September 9, 2002
Playboy models deserve punishment
aylor students knew university would punish them for posing in magazine
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JENELLE WILSON
ast month, Baylor
University suspended
the Sigma Phi Epsilon
|raternity for appearing in
^ lay boy's October "Women of
|he Big 12" issue. The stu-
ients knew the university
'ould discipline anyone who appeared in the
lagazine because this violates the Christian
|deals Baylor students are expected to
iphold. Ignoring the administration’s
ishes was disrespectful and the frater-
lity deserved to be suspended.
The Associated Press said the photo
jthat resulted in the suspension includ-
;d approximately 50 fraternity mem-
ers wearing Sigma Phi Epsilon T-
hirts and four women in bikinis on an
iff-campus sand volleyball court. The stu
ients in the picture were holding Baylor
anners and flags.
In addition to the fraternity’s one-year
uspension. which prevents the fraternity
rorn having any official activities or
ecruiting, most of the students in the
hoto were required to write a paper
nd perform community service. One
tudent who posed separately for the
magazine was suspended.
The fraternity contacted Playboy and
[asked it not to publish the picture before
lit was published, but, not surprisingly,
\ Play boy refused. After all, the students all signed con
[sent forms.
The fraternity is currently appealing the
suspension.
This is not Baylor's first clash with
Playboy. According to Baylor’s uni
versity newspaper. The Lariat, in
1996. the last time Playboy pro
duced a “Women of the Big 12”
issue, Baylor officials warned any
student who participated would be
subject to expulsion. However, the two
women who posed for the magazine were
seniors at the time of the photo shoot and graduat
ed before the magazine was published, and were
unable to be expelled.
In March, while Playboy was still accepting applications to
pose, Baylor's Vice President of Student Life, Eileen Hulme,
told The Lariat that participation in the magazine issue was not
something the university administration would look favorably
upon. She said it would fall under one definition of misconduct
in the Student Handbook, which says misconduct is any
“expression that is inappropriate in the setting of Baylor
University and in opposition to the Christian ideals which it
strives to uphold.”
Larry Brumley, Baylor's associate vice president of exter
nal relations, told the University of Texas' Daily Texan the
students were disciplined because, “Posing for a magazine
that exploits women and sells sex is a violation of that
policy.” He said “Baylor officials were less than pleased
with the presentation of the school's name and logo.”
Baylor, as a private Baptist university, has every right
to expect its students to follow the university's
“Christian ideals." It has a right to not be associated
with a magazine it feels is a violation of those ideals.
The students who disregard the expressed wishes of
their private Baptist university deserve to be punished.
It does not matter that none of the students in the
group photo were nude; they are still representatives of
the university, and their actions reflect on Baylor. The
fraternity did the right thing by trying to stop the photo
from being published, but that was too little, too late, and
now the students have to face the consequences.
The punishments handed down by the university were
extremely fair. Writing a paper and doing community service
is a very mild punishment. No one was expelled, only one per
son was suspended and the suspension of the fraternity is
only for one year.
According to its Web site, Baylor is the largest Baptist-
affiliated University in the world and is trying to set an exam
ple for other Protestant universities. University officials
are clear about the university's mission and what they
expect from Baylor students.
Students know they are to represent the
Christian values Baylor holds dear. The students
in the photo knew they were violating school
policy before they posed, but did it anyway. If
students do not agree with the policies and proce
dures of a private, religious university, they should
not be attending.
ANGELIQUE FORI) • THE BATTALION
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Gun industry should not be held accountable
Gun manufacturers take reasonable precautions to prevent misuse of their products
T he gun industry is becom
ing legally protected from
civil lawsuits across the
nation. Laws have been passed
blocking city governments from BRIEANNE PORTER
suing gun companies in 30 states.
Cities are accusing manufacturers and dealers of allowing guns
to fall into the hands of criminals and juveniles. While guns are
a hazard in the wrong hands, gun manufacturers and dealers
are not responsible for the use of guns once they have been
legally sold.
Critics argue the gun industry is responsible for crimes com
mitted with its product, similar to claims the tobacco industry
is responsible for deaths caused by its product, but there is no
basis for comparison between the two. The tobacco industry
did not inform the public of the addictive quality of its product
and withheld information concerning medical problems stem
ming from smoking. Guns are not chemically addictive, unlike
nicotine. The tobacco industry was at fault because it did not
inform the public of the adverse side effects. The gun industry
has never claimed there is no inherent danger from the product.
In fact, the industry has repeatedly gone to lengths to detail
proper use of its product. According to The New York Times,
“New Orleans became the first of almost three dozen cities and
counties to file suits against gun manufacturers and dealers.
accusing them of being public nuisances and seeking huge
damage awards in a campaign similar to that waged against the
tobacco industry.”
A notable example of the change of the legal tide is
California. The California State Legislature recently passed a
law repealing the gun industry immunity. According to the Los
Angeles Times, “Supporters of the bill said gun makers should
be held responsible for their products, as are the manufacturers
of many other goods in California, from cribs to lawn mow
ers.” The California legislature has forgotten one important
issue. If someone does not use a lawn mower as instructed and
hurts other people, those people cannot sue the lawn mower
makers. Only when the product malfunctions as a result of a
problem from the manufacturer can a person sue the manufac
turer. In the same manner, as long as the gun does not malfunc
tion and people are harmed from improper and illegal use, it is
not the gun industry’s responsibility.
Guns, similar to automobiles, have an inherent danger asso
ciated with the equipment. In the same New York Times article,
Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle
Association, said “the gun industry deserved special protection
because it is irresponsible to hold a legitimate industry respon
sible for the criminal actions of a few people over which it has
no control. We would not sue car manufacturers for injuries
caused by a drunk driver.” Guns are used to commit terrible
atrocities against humanity, but it is not the fault of the gun
industry its product is used in these crimes. Many people owm
guns and will never use them illegally. In Reuters News
Service, Chuck Michel, a spokesman for the California Rifle
and Pistol Association, said in response to the new bill. “To the
gun ban lobby, there is no such thing as any gun that is not a
defective product. They want to debate - case by case, court
room by courtroom - the social utility of a firearm. It’s a frivo
lous position, but defending against it will cost the industry
more than it can afford.”
If America falls into the trap of blaming gun manufacturers
for crimes in which guns were used, the next step would be to
hold knife manufacturers responsible for the crimes in which a
knife is used. From there it would become a downward spiral
of all the legitimate businesses being held responsible for
crimes in which its product is operated. These lawsuits neglect
that there is a certain amount of responsibility on the part of
the owner of a gun. IT the owner uses it illegally, the owner
should be held accountable for their actions. As long as the gun
industry is not specifically targeting their guns to criminals and
children, it is not the industry’s responsibility.
Brieanne Porter is a senior
political science major.
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Breast implants just another form of improvement
O ops, we’ve done it again.
It has been three years
since then 17-year-old
Britney Spears burst onto the pop
music scene and prompted an
international debate over the
singer’s large chest. Yet as breast augmentation
is quickly becoming the surgery of choice for
young women, the public continues to
denounce the procedure. With thousands of
girls opting for saline implants instead ot
padded bras each year, we should cheer this
artificial esteem boost instead of shunning it.
While Spears continues to maintain her
assets are real, there is a growing number of
college students who don’t make the same
claim. According to the American Society of
Plastic Surgeons, the number of women ages
19-34 who sought breast augmentation rose
from 19,500 in 1992 to more than 108,000 in
2000. In 2001, breast augmentation was the sec
ond most popular cosmetic surgery for the same
age group, with 122,045 surgeries performed.
Most controversial were sur
geries performed on girls 18 and
under, with 2,596 going under the
knife in the United States in
2001. For them, this was one of
the five most popular cosmetic
surgical procedures.
Girls should not base their self-worth on
their chest size, but despite this, many young
women face numbing insecurities each time
they look in the mirror. If a woman has an extra
$5,000 to spend and is willing to go through a
painful surgical operation to attain a positive
self-image, she should not be criticized.
The media has been critiqued for providing
young women with an unrealistic standard of
beauty, one created by personal trainers, pro
fessional lighting and airbrushing. While it is
unreasonable to aim for a “perfect” figure, try
ing to emulate the ideal standard of beauty has
been the practice of women and men alike for a
long time. No one criticizes teenagers who
wear braces, as braces have become an “accept
able” method of artificially enhancing one’s
appearance.
If someone is born with unusually crooked
teeth, he may pay thousands of dollars to fix
his smile and feel better about his appearance.
Similarly, for the growing number of young
women who undergo breast augmentation, they
have the chance to add volume and proportion
to their bodies, and are finally able to look in
the mirror and feel feminine.
Feminist author Naomi Wolf dismantles the
“beauty myth” in her book, “The Beauty
Myth," in which she poses the question of a
female’s freedom to choose.
“The real issue has nothing to do with
whether women wear make-up or don’t, gain
weight or lose it, have surgery or shun it,
dress up or down, make our clothing and faces
and bodies into works of art or ignore adorn
ment altogether. The real problem is our lack
of choice.”
This idea accepts that some women do buy
into the traditional “beauty myth” and will go to
any lengths to achieve it. Some girls start feel
ing self-conscious about their chests as early as
elementary school, and for them to receive
implants after their bodies finish developing is
neither too soon nor too vain in their eyes.
According to an article reported to
CBSnews.com in 2000, while the number of
teens receiving breast augmentation surgery
has more than quadrupled in the past five
years, most of the young patients are receiving
smaller implants and quoting poor body image
as the primary factor in their decisions to
undergo surgery.
With this in mind, most of these girls are not
trying to look like Pamela Anderson or even
Britney Spears. Most of them just want to feel
comfortable and proportionate, and if it takes a
couple of saline bags and a few thousand dol
lars to accomplish this, then more power to the
patients.
Micala Proesch is a junior
journalism and economics major.
MICALA PROESCH