Online "beauty contest" at SPU stirs controversy on campus

An online poll to determine Seattle Pacific University's "hottest" woman has prompted a campus controversy and a discussion today about objectifying women.

The Web site, which was taken down late Thursday night, listed 64 SPU female students, many with photos and profiles. Some women on the site say they didn't give their permission, and some say they feel embarrassed and degraded. Others say they're just worried about their safety after having so much information posted online.

"If I wanted to enter a beauty contest, I would have," said Emily Fadenrecht, an SPU senior whose picture and profile were on the recently developed site.

Matthew Gronlund, a recent University of Washington graduate who says he set up the "May Madness" contest — modeled after the NCAA basketball tournament — said he didn't mean to hurt anybody. He couldn't be reached for comment Friday, so it wasn't clear why the site had been taken down.

The site divided the campus into four regions, with 16 women in each. Brackets were posted, ranking the women based on their chances of winning.

"If anything, the site was designed to do exactly the opposite of that. It's appreciation of these beautiful women," Gronlund said Thursday .

Senior Kristina DeMain said the site brings to the surface a climate at SPU that focuses on physical beauty. There's a big problem with eating disorders at the school, she said.

"We think that this attitude can go to very dangerous places if left unchecked," she said. "I'm talking about violence against women, rape, abuse."

She planned a gathering today from noon to 2 p.m. in Martin Square on campus. DeMain said she hopes it opens a dialogue about whether women are devalued on campus.

Gronlund said he set up a similar contest last spring at UW. It was fun, he said, and it barely registered a blip on the controversy scale.

It's a different story at SPU, a conservative Christian university with about 3,800 students, 65 percent of them women. President Philip Eaton issued a three-page statement about the site Thursday, asking the students involved to come forward to talk about what's happened.

"I want to call us in this moment to renew our commitment to community," he wrote. "This blogsite reminds us that there is a fine line we can cross between what we perceive as good fun and behavior that is immensely hurtful."

Some of the women who were pictured on the site say it's not a big deal.

"Boys will be boys. This is just the kind of thing that happens," said Samantha Wilson, a junior.

When Wilson first told her mom about it, she said, they laughed about it. But the sexual nature of some of the comments posted on the site and the negative attention the site has drawn have given her second thoughts.

When she walks into a common area on campus, people stop and stare, she said. She has asked Gronlund — a friend of hers — to remove her from the site.

Kerry Riley, a senior, was more worried about security than whether women are being objectified by the site. At first when she heard about it, she was even flattered, she said, but now she finds it "hurtful."

She and her roommate were listed as contestants in the game, but their profiles weren't posted.

"At the beginning, it didn't really seem like a big deal," said her roommate, senior Jamie DeBell. "My opinion of it has changed and now I don't like the idea of it at all. I think it's awful to have this group of girls rated against each other."

Also, she called it just plain "creepy."

Gronlund said he got most of the information and photographs off Facebook, a Web site where college students can connect and view each other's profiles.

He said he's stunned that May Madness has been so controversial, even attracting the university president's attention.

"I honestly think that's a little bit ridiculous," he said. "We can't lose sight of a sense of humor."

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com