Two Bauer students have started a business that has placed our University in a spotlight, albeit a tiny one. These two enterprising Cougars have created a calendar that features scantily clad female UH students posing in bikinis and less-than conservative attire.
Campus Calendar Girls bills itself as a charitable organization, but in reality it only donates 10 percent of its revenue to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Wounded Warrior Project. While we can’t condemn anyone for donating to two noble causes, using the guise of charity to exploit female students is offensive to our campus.
This is primarily because it sheds a negative light on the women of our University and devalues their achievements as students at a Carnegie-designated Tier One Research Institution. Having a calendar full of provocatively-posing students undoes the work the current administration has done to refine our national academic reputation and increase the prestige of our University.
This calendar brings a kind of attention to UH that isn’t in keeping with the achievements and advances we’re making every day on a national level. In fact, it creates the illusion that students here aren’t as concerned with education as they are with social standings.
Furthermore, it tarnishes the reputation of the Bauer School of Business, which is a nationally-ranked business school. Surely Bauer students have more to offer than this — there’s nothing original or interesting about exploiting women to make a quick buck. Such a reputable business school should be teaching its students to be innovative in their approach to applying their degrees. There are certainly students at Bauer whose ideas are more deserving of recognition than those responsible for Campus Calendar Girls.
While they should undoubtedly be applauded for the success of their start up, that success is tainted by the fact that a cheap idea is what earned them the limelight.
Cougar editorial board? Put your names on it. Maybe the university should have the school sponsored cheer squad cover up a little more…. and have others focus on their abilities as athletes and students. Give me a break. The creators and women who participitated in the calendar should be applauded. YOU as an editorial board are attempting to give a bad name to these women by stating they are a part of a "cheap idea." The only thing cheap, are your efforts to write a decent article. Did you even interview the creators or any of the female students? "Offensive to the campus?" I guess the campus was the only party that was asked for input. "Tarnishes the reputation of the business school?" Wow, harsh words for this little start up and the participants. You should offer a generous apology to all those involved. A "campus" and "college" this easily offended and tarnished, shouldn't even be standing by now.
UH IS JEALOUS THEY AREN'T GETTING A CUT OF THE PROFITS…
If you had seen how hard the students worked on releasing the calendar, your opinion might be changed. Those "quick bucks" that you talk about, required months of preparation, hard work on all the tax and government information, (beacuse the students when about it in all legal ways), hard work in getting the photographer, location, and models (who if you were not informed submitted themselves into the competition). I am sorry but this is an extremely ignorant article, if you knew or had talked to the producers of the calendar your idea might be persuaded. Do not forget that Bauer is well known for its entrepeneurship program, and this calendar is a great example of how students can take their class room teachings into the real world. Saying that the girls were exploded is an extremely harsh condemnation, which is very far from reality since they were the ones who submitted their pictures in the competition and the girls might be able to receive part of the profit.
And by the way, your comment about how they "only donate 10%" is as ignorant as most of the rest of the article. Have you heard of any corporation that donates 10% of their revenue? Did you do a research about that before writting this article? I thought good journalism showed the two sides of the story, so where is your interview to the two students? where is your interview to the girls? Did they tell you they were forced into hard labor, is that how you assume they were exploited? Because they alll seemed very happy to be part of this calendar, they all sounded excited to appear on tv. FYI I am an advocate of women's rights and women's independence. In no way this is hurting either or.
Let's just say that there is definitely some truth to this article. While most of you are harking on women's rights and the problem of objectifying women (and rightfully so), there's a more irritating issue that seems to bother a larger group of students. We are sick of being harassed on our walks to class/our cars (or even my personal walk to grab coffee) to buy a calendar filled with half-naked and provocatively posed female students. No, I do not want to buy your shitty calendar and I do not think that "the cool thing" about your calendar is that all of the females are students attending UH (a sales pitch used to convince a skeptical buyer to purchase a calendar). I think it's really funny that in the "interview" aired by channel 11 on the creators of this business, the reporter asked one of the girls (who proudly pointed out her picture to him) if HER MOM KNEW ABOUT IT. Am I the only one that heard this??? The fact that the reporter's initial reaction was to ask how a parent would react is a testament to the provocative and undignified nature of this bullcrap. I can't imagine why any normal parent would be proud that their daughter got to pose in a short/skimpy dress/bikini/etc. for a calendar. Quit offending the more conservative students on this campus and try selling your "charitable" crap to a place more welcoming of its nature. Finally, the girls "featured" in the calendar need to get off their high horse about it–you won because you advertised a link on your facebook to your 2,000+ friends to click it and "vote" for you. There was little to no judgment involved. It's basically a contest between how many moms, dads, family members, and friends (random people you add on fb too) want to actually listen to your plead to vote for you.
Also, wanted to give props to the Daily Cougar for being awesome. I read your stuff everyday; keep it up.
I'm a woman, and I think if the women in the pictures want to be in them, let them. But to be fair and equal and all that jazz, can we not have a MAN CALENDAR?! Yes, that's right. Let's make one with hot men in speedos.
You think I'm joking. Bring it on.
If it is basically a calendar for showing scantily clad women, then it should be OK to have one
OF men FOR women. Lol.
Dude, I see so many hot guys at the gym. While personally not a fan of speedos, I would totally buy a "Hottest Men of UH" calendar. Someone get on that stat.
Haha, this whole objectification and exploitation of women thing is pretty typical. Women have been criticized by everyone, even other women, since…well, forever. Because they are women, they have been seen as intellectually inferior, lacking leadership skills, and incapable and doing things for themselves. It comes off as no surprise to me that when these women volunteered to have their own images portrayed in a way that they chose, they were anonymously chastised for expressing themselves in a fashion they enjoy, for a cause that they support, in an effort they funded by their own organization. Women dominate the worlds of fashion and sex appeal so it's no surprise that when they gained control and influence in the industry they are criticized for it. Is looking provocative illegal? Is wearing a bikini immoral? And more importantly, did this calendar encourage the taking of someone else's rights away? This editorial condemns the actions of the people involved with the calendar, which is implicitly encourages for less forms of expression; this article implies that people should NOT put out calendars full of scantily clad women for the sake of preserving the university's Tier One status. Well, here are some of my crazy and wild ideas for upholding our Tier One status:
1. Keep an open mind.
2. Let people express themselves.
3. If you don't want to dress in sexy outfits and have pictures of yourself taken and published in a calendar, don't do it.
4. If you don't want to own a calendar full of pictures of women in sexy outfits, don't buy one.
5. If you don't want your own inalienable rights taken away, don't criticize and encourage the rights of someone else to be taken away.
This was all written by a dude that is not involved with the calendar, is not interested in the calendar, and will not buy the calendar, if you were wondering.
school newspapers are usually ridiculous……… this is no exception……
yes it was a cheap unoriginal idea. i doubt it tarnished any reputations though. i think we need a calendar that reflects our diversity. have some gay guys kissing, some freethinkers, nudists, zoophiles, multiracial people, mentally handicapped, poor people, etc – put them all together on a calendar. that would be real diversity.
make a calendar of the various employees of UH at home – janitors in their shanties, khator in her mega mansion, adjuncts in their apts, etc.
that would have been much more interesting
By the logic of this article, perhaps we should frown on the decadent cheerleaders too?