Hoosiers today, bunnies tomorrow

The last time Playboy did a Girls of the Big Ten pictorial, back in 1997, the issue featured nine IU students, more than any other Big Ten school.\nOfficials at the popular men's magazine hope an open-casting call at a local hotel turns up as many qualified candidates this time around.\nCandidates will be interviewed at a hotel today and Tuesday, said Playboy publicist Theresa Hennessey. Finalists will be photographed later this week for the magazine's October edition, one of its most popular issues.\nNate Jackson, a bouncer at Nick's, has been doing his part.\nBetween 10 and 11 p.m. Thursday, he handed out about 40 pink fliers advertising the open interviews.\nMany women were shy in front of their friends and turned down a flier at first, Jackson said. Later, they came back alone to pick one up.\nThe fliers, handed out at the bars, gave a telephone number to set up an appointment at an unnamed local hotel.\n"I wanted to grab a lawn chair and a six pack and sit outside the building," Jackson said, "but they didn't give a location."\nWomen can find out the location and set up an appointment by calling the photographer, at 312-315-7342. They must prove they are a student of legal age.\nHennessey said usually between 50 and 100 candidates show up for interviews, but Playboy is looking for quality over quantity.\nIn its tour of Big Ten schools, Playboy visited Purdue and Michigan State last week and will visit Iowa and Ohio State next week. Interviews at each location consist of head shots and full body shots in two piece bathing suits, Hennessey said. Successful candidates here will be called back later this week for a photo shoot somewhere in Bloomington. That location will also remain a secret.\nOther than advertisements in the IDS, Dean of Students Richard McKaig said he has heard nothing about the visit.\nHe said the interviews are conducted off campus, and it's a personal choice for students.\n"I guess I pay more attention to the quality of our academic programs than these indicators of campus social life," McKaig said.\nWhen a porn film crew from California taped in Teter Quad and other locations on campus, it generated controversy on campus and in the national media.\nBut Playboy's visit hasn't been raised as an issue, McKaig said.\nHennessey said there's a reason for that.\nShe called Playboy's pictorials "classy" and "fun" -- along the lines of Maxim, Esquireand GQ. \n"We don't consider ourselves 'porn,'" she said. "We don't even consider ourselves in the same league as the other crew that came"