Ignore the nudies

It's a fitting way to mark the passing of my final year here at IU.\nIf my memory serves correctly (and let's face it, it's the end of my senior year, so it's highly probable that it doesn't), there's been some sort of pornography scandal every year I've been here. My freshman year it was the release of the infamous "Shane's World" DVD. Then came Teen Keira, followed by a slew of issues with Playboy. \nNow, IU and Playboy are together in the news once again. To be quite honest, that put more than a little smile on my face.\nWhile some IU parents are probably shifting nervously in their chairs, and some donors and alumni are probably seething, I see no problem here.\nPlayboy thrives on controversy. In fact, if it weren't controversial, it in all probability would have gone defunct a long time ago. But since it is followed everywhere it goes by dissenting voices on the left and the right, it is never allowed to fade into (much deserved) oblivion. As the old adage goes, no publicity is bad publicity.\nPersonally, I feel indifferent about the magazine, although I'm more than a little annoyed with all the Playboy bunny attire everywhere. It's nothing ideological though, I just find (inexplicably, I confess) that the little bunny silhouette is as grating to my eyes as Dave Matthews Band is to my ears.\nBut, since the University is looking into a trademark infringement violation for the Playboy issue "Girls of the Top Ten Party Schools," I want to give the administration the same advice that my grandma used to give me as a little girl when bees flew dangerously close to my sandbox: Ignore them and they'll go away.\nUnless the administration truly believes it has an open and shut case, it should just lay off. The more we sue, the more Playboy salivates over its next appearance on campus, planning a more insidiously legal way to do photo shoots here.\nI doubt there's any sentient being who believes that IU was intentionally complicit in bringing Playboy to campus, or that IU officially sanctions what's going on. But, the models involved were consenting adults, and later, they might just learn a lesson when a fabulous potential employer Googles them and finds those flattering pictures all over the Web. Isn't learning what college is all about?\nAnd if they don't ever learn a lesson, oh well. It's really none of our business anyway.\nYou know, the weather's been really nice lately, so the University officials should get out of their offices and do what I do when I find myself turning molehills into mountains: Pack a picnic lunch and a wiffle ball set and head on over to the park for a relaxing afternoon of food and sport. \nIf they did that more often, I bet they'd spend less time worrying about who's taking nudie photos of legal adults and more time trying to understand the student population.\nMeanwhile, the Playboy situation will take care of itself.