Many students want to pose nude

"You go, be a lawyer," Playboy photographer David Chan said gently with a heavy Chinese accent as he ushered out one freshly tanned, short-skirted University student from his suite at the Sheraton Hotel on 36th and Chestnut streets. As Chan escorted her through the door, with his arm swept over her shoulders, brushing against her straight blond hair, he left the student wondering if she might be selected from the 50 or so applicants who want to represent the University in Playboy magazine's spread, "Women of the Ivy League." And when his assistant greeted the next applicant, another short-skirted woman with a darker spring break tan, straighter hair and platform shoes, he welcomed the candidate with the same type of comforting words and gestures that Chan had just used in his send off. According to Chan, creating a relaxed atmosphere for students who have never modeled before -- let alone been faced with the prospect of posing fully or partially nude -- is an important part of college spreads. So yesterday when applicants arrived, Chan, his assistant and his dog Mei Ling (Chinese for "pretty woman") greeted them with small-talk before they were asked to pose in their choice of a bathing suit or "non-wintery" clothing for Polaroid pictures. After her interview with Chan, one student, who did not want her name disclosed, complimented his efforts. "They really made me feel at ease," said the applicant, who like the other two was dressed in a drifty mid-thigh length skirt, heels and a black leather jacket. "I didn't feel like they were lecherous old men." Although she said the "informal" atmosphere dispelled her anxiety, the College senior also credited her laid-back attitude to her Los Angeles upbringing. The University community is unjustly critical of women interested in appearing in the Playboy spread, she said. "I think Penn is an incredibly uptight school in terms of everything," she said. "I think people are much more afraid to do something like this because of what people might think of them, and because there is so much of a backlash against publications like Playboy -- especially in the DP, in editorials and letters to the editor." Chan agreed. Although he said he has already found several students who fit the mold he is searching for -- "sensuous, with smiling eyes" -- he said the number of applicants at the University and other Ivy League schools is diminutive in comparison to state universities and those in warmer weather locations where women are "a little bit looser." "There is a difference, you have more to choose from when 200-300 come in and 40-50 here," he said. "Young ladies from a warm climate are more comfortable with themselves. They look at themselves a little bit better than [in] cold weather." But the difference between "Women of the Ivy League" and women at other Universities does not end with self-perception, according to the applicant interviewed. She said the photo spread will combat the negative stigma attached to intelligent women, particularly those at the University. "It breaks the stereotype of a woman can't be smart and pretty as well," she said. "If I went to a state school, I don't think I would do it. But because I go to an Ivy, I think there is a point to be made. "The Ivy League has a reputation to uphold," she added. "I think this is a good thing and there are stereotypes that will be broken because of this -- especially the bad reputation that women have here."

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