Baylor students warned about Playboy posing
“I don’t know that they’re necessarily overstepping their bounds because when students come to Baylor, they’re agreeing to the rules in the handbook,” said Sarah Tinsley, a 23-year-old graduate student. “But I do think it’s a little ridiculous for the school to try to dictate what people do outside of school.”
I suppose I should tread carefully here. After all, She Who Endures My Myriad Eccentricities is a Baylor alum, and she tends to be a bit sensitive about these sort of things- understandably, I suppose. So, here’s to this fool jumping in where angels fear to tread.
I understand that Baylor is an extremely Conservative Baptist school. I also understand that Baylor has a very strong code of conduct. And while I agree that the school has every right to stand behind it’s code of conduct, I can’t help but wonder just how far the school can go in proscribing individual adult behavior. Yes, posing nude for Playboy might be anathema to the the good, God-fearing Baptists who make Baylor what it is, but does an adult not have the right to engage in behavior that does not violate the law?
If, for example, a student was to pose nude for Playboy and the magazine identified her as a Baylor student, but made no other allusion to the school, would Baylor be within it’s right to discipline the student? What, really, has the student done wrong? How much control over individual adult behavior should Baylor be allowed?
Baylor’s administration isn’t known for brooking anything that smacks of this sort of sinfulness, which, given the school’s philosophy, makes sense. I wonder, though; should Baylor be able to exercise this sort of control over it’s student body? Baylor’s code of conduct notwithstanding, is posing nude for Playboy the sort of behavior that the school is within it’s rights to proscribe?
If you’re going to go to Baylor, you’ve got to know that this sort of thing is not kosher within the Baylor community. Why invite the wrath of the administration? If you want to pose for Playboy, what in the hell are you in Waco to begin with…unless you enjoy being disciplined for what some women might consider a career move?
Personally, I just love watching narrow-minded Baptists spin themselves into fits of furious, righteous indignation over something that ultimately only carries whatever significance they choose to assign to it. Of course, when you live in Waco, I suppose you have to create your own excitement, eh?
