University Bookstore won't stock Girls of M.U. calendar

The models for the 2007 Girls of MU calendar participated in a photo shoot in the Florida Keys.

By Brad Fischer

Published Sept. 8, 2006

With the photo shoot for the 2007 Girls of M.U. calendar taking place this week in the Florida Keys, the University Bookstore has no plans to carry the swimsuit calendar as it did last year.

The 2006 calendar was displayed on store shelves until complaints by various campus groups led bookstore employees to move the calendar behind the counter.

"We did have complaints last year," bookstore spokeswoman Michelle Froese said. "Some students thought it was a stereotypical depiction of women. It was one of our most popular calendars, but there are enough other venues that will carry it that it should not be hard to find."

Froese said the complaints played no role in the decision not to carry the calendar.

The 2007 edition is the second Girls of M.U. calendar published by senior Tom Houlehan's company Tom & Jerry Inc.

It will be sold for $12.99 when it is released next month.

The 2006 calendar featured one female student each month and included her name, age, hometown and interests.

The calendar's photo shoot wraps up today.

Audition advertisements were posted around Columbia.

The only requirements to audition were that the woman is enrolled at MU and that she is over the age of 18.

Two hundred sixty-four women auditioned for the 2007 calendar, up from the 122 who tried out for the first edition.

Houlehan thought the removal of the calendar was uncalled for.

He said some of the magazines carried in the bookstore are more risqué than the calendar.

After the calendar was pulled from the shelves, an e-mail from two women who appeared in the calendar argued for it to be returned to the bookstore.

Houlehan stressed that the calendar is a learning experience and a good way to get into modeling.

"This is a legitimate way to really make a strong foundation on which to construct a modeling career," Houlehan said.

He also said the participants get to learn about the business side of producing the calendar.

Senior Emily Smith, who will appear in the 2007 calendar, said she had hoped the bookstore would carry the calendar.

"There's nothing that I thought was inappropriate," Smith said. "I don't feel objectified. No one here feels that way. It's tastefully done."

Smith also said her family and friends were looking forward to seeing the calendar.

"I was kind of hesitant about telling some of my close friends and family," Smith said. "They were really excited about the opportunity and that I would get to go to Florida."