Today's Inside Higher Education has a lead article about an unfolding crisis at Wellesley College, where members of the freshman class are "seething" with indignation. No, the school hasn't announced a big spike in tuition or suggested that there are too many A grades being awarded, and no hate crimes have been reported thus far this week, either. Instead, the affronted first year students are OUTRAGED that their school was, until this week, being represented by three men in the Mr. Campus Freshman Contest, sponsored by HerCampus, a web page devoted to the college lives and experiences of female undergraduates. The idea is to select as a winner the "coolest, silliest, sexiest" guy to represent your school. Wait a minute, you say, isn't Wellesley all female? Don't try to pull that one! We don't want to be represented by men in a "hottest guy" competition, say the affronted Wellesleyites. This is discriminatory! Now, now, replied the owners of HerCampus: we certainly don't mean to offend anyone:
It was never our intention to offend anyone with this contest, or to make any kind of anti-feminist, hetero-normative statement.
Whew. I think that the crisis has been stayed for the time being, since a Wellesley freshman has now tossed her hat into the Hottest Freshman contest. Big story, as I said, and I'm grateful to Inside Higher Education for keeping on top of significant trends on campus. But check back: there may be an extra.
