Whether you're walking to class, studying at the library or sitting in the stadium at a football game, it's hard not to notice the abundance of attractive young women at UCF.
That shouldn't be the selling point of the university though.
Earlier this month, Playboy's Miss July and UCF graduate Shanna McLaughlin decked herself out in UCF apparel as she posed seductively in the UCF locker room for the cover of Axis magazine.
Since then, the story of the blonde bombshell has stirred up controversy, not because of the content of the photos, but because of the location where they were taken.
For those of you who haven't seen the photos, in all honesty, they really aren't that bad.
Seriously, a bathing suit and a tank top are normal attire for a Florida girl during the summer.
Had Axis done the shoot anywhere else but on UCF grounds, there would be no issue.
We believe the issue is the fact that UCF football coach George O'Leary gave Axis permission to use the locker room as the location for the photo shoot.
Because of this, people are now associating UCF with scantily clad women, and we're not okay with that.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi wrote that we should "embrace" the national and even global attention McLaughlin has directed our way because it has caused people to notice UCF for our football.
This may be true, but not all publicity is good publicity.
UCF football and the school in general should gain popularity through success and hard work, not because of half-naked women.
We really don't need people coming to UCF expecting the women here to take their clothes off, especially since that's the impression many people have of Florida colleges anyway.
Incidents like this distract from the fact that UCF was recently ranked seventh in U.S.
News & World Report's list of up-and-coming schools, that it's the third-largest school in the nation, or that it's one of the leaders in both academics and research, offering more than 200 different degree programs.
We're not blaming McLaughlin or Axis for this predicament; they were just doing what was necessary to make some money and increase circulation, and obviously it worked.
We're saying that O'Leary should have done a little more research and consulted a few others before allowing the Axis crew to invade the locker room.
According to an interview with the Sentinel, all O'Leary asked was if the magazine was distributed on campus, and when the reply was "yes," he granted permission.
Many have apologized on behalf of O'Leary and UCF, including Associate Director of Athletics Joe Hornstein, who told the Sentinel that UCF did not condone the photographs in any way and that O'Leary did not have authority to grant Axis permission to use the locker room.
O'Leary himself even said after he saw the photos and video that it wasn't what he expected.
McLaughlin, on the other hand, saw nothing wrong with the photo shoot being done in the locker room.
"Everyone is overreacting with this thing …. I'm not saying that I know anything, but I'm sure that's not the worst that that locker room has seen," McLaughlin told Tony Bruno on his radio show, Into the Night.
For now, we'll just have to hope that the buzz coming from newspapers and blogs soon dies down and that it won't negatively affect our reputation.
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