Some 30 Vanderbilt women attended Playboy's casting call for its "Girls of the SEC" pictorial, according to Playboy photographer George Georgiou. The two-day audition was held Monday and Tuesday at the Hampton Inn on Elliston Place.

"This is something I've never done before, something I didn't think I would ever do, but it's all for fun," said a Vanderbilt student who identified herself as "Lilly" to News Channel 2.

Playboy's advertisements for its casting call in The Vanderbilt Hustler stirred controversy among members of the Nashville and Vanderbilt communities, with stories appearing on local news channels numerous times this week.

According to senior Regan Bush, more than 200 signatures have been collected through Project Safe on a petition in protest of the ad. The signatures appear in this issue of The Hustler.

"It is not just women who are offended; it is everyone," Bush said.

Bush said she was "immediately shocked and angry" after seeing the first Playboy advertisement in The Hustler on Feb. 28.

She then went to the Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center, where both she and Dr. Julia Fesmire, senior lecturer of Women and Gender Studies, discussed their opinions and trimmed the ad out of every issue of The Hustler in Garland Hall.

"The Playboy ad is a complete exploitation of Vanderbilt University's women to solicit them to pose for a pornographic publication," Bush said.

LSU senior Holly Phillips, who auditioned for Playboy this year at LSU, posted her experience with Playboy to InsideVandy.com on Tuesday.

"The Playboy representatives were nothing but respectful and professional. In no way are the girls pressured to go any further than they feel comfortable," she wrote in the column.

"Of course not everyone sees Playboy in the high standards that I do," Phillips said. "Several see it as just another pornographic magazine - a place for the immoral to grab a paycheck. I couldn't disagree more. This isn't Hustler, Penthouse or ‘Girls Gone Wild.' We're talking Playboy."

Sophomore Ashley McCarl said she "didn't give (the ad) a second a thought and didn't think either way" about it.

According to Vanderbilt spokesperson Mike Schoenfeld, Playboy did not ask for permission to do anything on campus.

"Beyond that, we have no comment and hope that our students will use (this issue) as an opportunity for debate and discussion about important issues of gender roles and free speech," Schoenfeld said.