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SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Fin

 

Leggett Letter Explains Events of Playboy Incident

Editors note: The tollowing
letter is being sent by President
Leggett to alumni and parents
in order to make clear the hap-
penings concerning the Playboy
incident. The letter is being
run here in order that students
may be aware or the kind ol
explanation being made by the
administration.

The “disrobing” incident at
February 5 has been the sub-
ject or a great deal or pub-
licity and comment, with some
corresponding misinter-
pretation, and I believe it would
be useful it 1 gave you a plain
account of the matter.

On Wednesday, February 5,
Mr. Brice Draper, the college
promotion manager of Playboy

magazine, was on campus for
discussions with students. He
was one oi a series at persons
who had been invited, at dif-
ferent times, by a committee
of students and resident ad-
visers to present a point of
view that would speak to an ass
pect of “The Social, Psycho-
logical, and sexual Aspects of
interpersonal Relation-
ships.” Among the other invited
speakers had been Dr. Lester
Kirkendall, an expert on iam-
ily lite; Dr. William Roy, gyne
cologist; Dr. Evelyn Gendel, an
expert on child care and ma-
ternal health; Dr. Zane ParLen,
psychiatrist: and the Reverend
Mr. John Hedger, Episcopalian
priest. However individuals on
the campus might ieel about
Playboy, the committee lelt

 

 

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that the magazine had a wide
circulation, that its philosophy
was widely promoted, and that
a thoughttul and open discus-
sion of this philosophy would
be desirable.

The discussion in question
took place in Gates Hall
Lounge, starting about 4
o’clock. According to the evi—
dence given me, about 75 per-
sons were present, including
two or three resident advisers
and the president of the student
body. Mr. Tom Thomas. Mr.
Draper made a briet opening
statement about the "Playboy
Philosophy” concerning rela-
tionships between men and
women. After his opening re-
marks, there was a discussion
for 10 or 15 minutes. Then six
women and four men, all stu—
dents, who had been sitting on
the ﬂoor 0“ to one side of the
lounge, rose, disrobed. resumed
their seats, and sang “You‘ve
Got to Walk That Lonesome
Valley." During this period,
some other students (they were
dressed) passed among the
others in attendance, handing
out the following statement,
entitled “Playboy Magazine ls
a Moneerilallger in the Temple
ol the Body":

Playboy claims to espouse
a philosophy that asserts the
body is good and the body is

beautiful, but Playboy de-
means the human body. Pre-
tending to appreciate and re-
spect the beauty of the naked
human form, Playboy in ac-
tuatity stereotypes the body
and cammercializes on it.

Playboy substitutes fetishism
for honest appreciation oi the
endless variety or human
forms.

Playboy says the body is
good, but posing as liberator
it offels us a sexuality of

“subjects" and “objects" —
of those who desire and act,
and those who are desirable
and acted upon. Thus sexual
activity is dehumanized and
depersonalized.

We believe that the human
body is good and beautilul,
but a sensual and aesthetic
appreciation ot the body can-
not be divorced trom an ap-
preciation of and respect for
persons, or both sexes, or all
shapes and sizes, We protest

Playboy‘s images or lapdog
female playthings with ideal-
ized proportions and their
junior - executive - on - the -
way - up possessors. The
Playboy bunny is an aiiront
to human sexual dignity.

While this statement was be-
ing handed out, several other
persons who had come with
cameras photographed the dem-
onstrators and some others
present. Some of the nude dem»
onstrators did stand, but at no
time did any oi them posture
or walk around. Aiter the brief
period of singing, the discus-
sion between Mr. Draper and
the audience continued. Some
of those students who had dis-
robed participated in the dis-
cussion, challenging Mr. Dra-
per over the View of women
represented by Playboy, that
sexuality can be divorced irom
personal meaning. After some
lilteen minutes, the students
who had disrobed put their
clothes back on. The discussion
then continued ior about thirty
minutes longer.

Within an hour and a half,
a local “stringer" had put the
story and photographs in the
hands or the Des Moines news
media, one or which was a wire
service, which distributed one
or more or the pictures on its
national wire. There is no point
in our saying that the news
media “sensationalized” the
case. The incident did happen,
and we are all aware by this
time that what makes front-
page news is “newsworthiness”
and is not subject to our own
notions or tair play or can
science.

When the student deans and I
met the next morning, we
agreed that the lirst step was

 

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to get accurate identilication oi
the demonstrators; then talk to
them individually and notity
their parents. Accordingly.
Deans Low and Thompson talk-
ed to students and resident ad-
visers who had been at the
meeting, secured the names or
the demonstrators, and then
sent copies or the following let-
[er to them:

You have heen identiﬁed as
one or a group at students
who dismbed in Gates Lounge
on the Grinnell campus last
Wednesday, February 5, with
the stated purpose at protest-
ing the visit of 2 Playboy
magazine representative and
his magazine’s unsavory com-
mercial exploitation or worn-
anhood.

By a pmcess or reaction
that by now has become very
ramilisr to college campuses,
Ihe incident has dime harm to
the college's educational el-
iort by damaging its public
reputation. M o s t probably.
your action will ﬁnally have
less impact on the problems
you describe than it will in
continuing many in their be-
liel that appearances no
count, that the college “looks
bad,” and that when its good
action is publicimd, even that
will be somehow suspect. At
any rate we do make the
point that your action has
left the human issues less
usefully defined, and in some
quarters has generated a re
action antagonistic to the col-
lege and to its educational
goals.

On a personal level, we
note that the problems gener-
ated by a conﬂict oi this sort
(that is, problems created by
doing impulsive damage to the
institution that you presum.
nhiy are beneﬁting from are
becoming steadily more com-
plex.

We are sending a copy ol
this letter to your parents
and would invite you and/or
your parents to discuss the
implications of this incident
with us.

The process of talking indi-
vidually with the students took
some time. Several of tile stu-
dents resented (lte fact that
their parents had been sent
copies of the letter. But the
College is clearly obligated to
inform the parents of students
who may be involved in a dis-
ciplinary action; this obligav
tion is particularly urgent if
the national news media are
publishing an account (and a
picture) pt what the student
has done. While the deans were
talking to the students involved.
several other students began

LEGGE'IT LETTER—-
(Continued Page 5, Column 1)

"LIKE 'Povlsx'rv’ And ’ci'vil
rights) and ’inregrarl'on’ belore
it, 'hungef is n slippery, vague,
open-ended ward, loaded with
emotional impact. Typicnlly,
newspaper coverage begins, in the
headlines, with ’hungei’; only well
into the ilory doeril become clear
lhntwhnl is usually it issue is mil-
nutrition, disease or ignorance. It
in, [nee it, easier and more excite
ingrainzk about is. a i... may .r
'hunger‘ rhnn Wm. r. lucid-V’-
nbonr malnu- l “r

m‘tion," r. loo 2. as. it
* N. 1. limo. "

 

