Friday. Apia 4. low 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 THE RING BOOT We don't know who started it . .. the guys or the gals But Dexter has a solid hit on their hands. The sole-less ring boot. . in bulb/Bronco Hide leather. MEN'S And LADIES' Brown's Shoe Fit Company CHARGE ACCOUNTS welcome Your Bank Amerinard Welcome Here 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 Your last Check From home just bounced? ' Think it over, over coffee TheTllink Drink. ‘ unummn onn tm fhlnhDilr-htdu', Duyrl N, - M7!£lnlymnnmundndlullb¢ lufls. sumo, mmoou in. llllemltlon-i Coll-IDq-mlllipn. 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. "