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		Points of View Alexis Levine March 4, 2003 Guest Column and group photo © 2003 Alexis Levine. Published with permission. Other photos © 2003 Keweenaw Now.

Dissent Heard and Heeded

By Alexis Levine

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Michigan Tech's Technobabe Times, Vol. 5, no. 4: February 2003. It is re-published here with permission.

This sign on the Uphill 41 bar in Hancock, photographed in late December 2002, advertises the January 2003 bikini contest sponsored by Mt. Bohemia. (Photo © 2003 Keweenaw Now)

This is a case of a state-funded university publicly endorsing a bikini contest through its advertised promotion of the bar and contest sponsor. A regular tax-paying citizen has cause for concern over the video and contest, if only for the mere fact of state money funding such a public relations department. If women want to wear bikinis in winter, that's their prerogative. What is at issue is that Michigan Tech saw fit to promote the exploitation of women, through its business affiliations with the bikini contest's sponsor and host.

This is the way I heard the sponsor, the host and the university addressing women:

Attention sweet young flesh!
All college girls strapped for cash!
Any cell phone bearing, 
Bebe wearing,
females up for sale!
Have you had enough gawking men in your life of late?
Are you missing those rape you with our eyes looks?
Well save the date!
Come on down to the uphill forty-one at the end of the holiday break!
We've got just the ticket for you! 
You can sell your body to drunken fools 
and prove to the bohemian prince of them all 
that the contents of your mind are in reality 
secondary
to the value of your physicality.
Just strap on a bikini,
never mind that it's ten degrees and breezy!
Get down!
Prance around!
Dance for the townies!
Come on baby, 
the soulless sponsor is offering you the chance 
to degrade your body 
for petty cash. 
Your state-funded University endorses this, 
how can you resist?

How can you resist, indeed? I couldn't. As a citizen of Hancock and as an employee of Michigan Tech, I took the opportunity to exercise my democratic right to dissent. I ran right out to get flour and sugar and a little old lady get-up.

I found two willing cohorts to hold a mock bake sale and clothing drive. Our goody-goody goal was to clothe the bikini-clad college women running around without proper winter apparel. Two of us transformed ourselves into sour-faced old ladies, complete with clip-on earrings, strings of pearls, gaudy broaches, and small stiff hats with netting to the nose. A third protester posed as Professor Iam Windbag. Her costume included a man's tweed suit with a black and white polka-dot bikini over top of it. We had a lovely spread of brownies and cookies and offered them generously to the passersby as we informed them of the dangers of inadequate clothing in the cold season. Most declined our sweet treats, but many stopped to read our sign before going in to the bar to gawk at the girlies.

Author Alexis Levine, right, and her two fellow protesters, dressed as "sour-faced old ladies" and "Professor Iam Windbag," prepare to confront patrons of the Uphill 41 during Mt. Bohemia's bikini contest held there in early January 2003. (Photo © 2003 Alexis Levine. Reprinted with permission.)

Soon after we set up outside the bar, the sponsor came out to see what was going on. He said,  "Oh. What's this?" and came closer to see what our sign said. He started to say something else, but lost his chutzpah, apparently. He stopped mid-sentence and went back into the bar. Later he came back with a hired videographer, photographer and the wannabe news anchor from the promotional video. Unlike the warmly dressed sponsor in his Mountain Hardwear mountaineering jacket, she interviewed us in a chilly ensemble complete with Hawaiian lais around her neck, and almost enough clothing fastened to her body to keep her from appearing to be a contestant inside the bar, though nowhere near enough to keep her warm.

The protest was a success. Several cars slowed down as they passed by and then honked their solidarity loudly as they rounded the corner into downtown Hancock. We exercised our freedom of speech in peace. No drunkards smashed bottles on the sidewalk. The cops didn't bother us. They had nothing to say once I told them that I had already checked with the Hancock Chief of Police and everything we were doing was legal.

Dissent, protest, mocking sleazebag contests are all great fun. But there is more to the story than just having a little fun. Those who were offended by the promotional video and bikini contest have been vindicated.

Dave Brule, Chair of Tech's Board of Control, found the video degrading as well. He ordered that the university cut the promotional materials from airing. Bill McGarry, Vice President for Administration, had this to say to concerned Tech staff members who brought the issue to his attention: 

"I sent the tape to Dave Brule who reviewed it with members of his staff. Dave and his staff (especially mothers of college age students) found it degrading. In short, Dave agrees with the spirit of the Technobabe article and stated that the video portrayed Michigan Tech in a terrible light. Dave ordered that we cease the advertisements immediately… We have ceased our joint advertising promotion with Mt. Bohemia…"

In other words, Tech has pulled out of Mt. Bohemia.**

Thank you to the Technobabe Times supporters who read the December article and brought the issue to the attention of those empowered to make change. A big shout out to Kristin, who wrote the article that inspired people to think a little deeper about Michigan Tech's relationship with Mt. Bohemia and the Uphill 41. It was this article (not our protest at the Uphill) that changed the university's actions.

Some will forget the video and contest as soon as they can. Some will remember that Tech carelessly condoned the exploitation of women. Others will celebrate Tech listening to criticism and heeding the call to progress. 

* Editor's Note: Kristin Arola's article, "Michigan Tech's New Recruiting Tactics" in Technobabe Times, December 2002, as well as the original version of Alexis Levine's article reprinted here, can be accessed as pdf files on Technobabe's Web site. Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded for free from the Internet in order to read the articles. ** Editor's Note: The Feb. 26, 2003, Michigan Tech Lode mentions the upcoming March 15 "Mardi Gras Madness" at Mt. Bohemia and carries a large ad promoting this event in which "The girl with the most beads wins $1,000." Last year the Lode carried an article with a  photo indicating young women exposed themselves to young boys during this event. See the 2002 Lode article. Reactions to that event included a resolution by the Grant Township Board condemning the immoral behavior at the March 2002 "Mardi Gras Madness" and a letter to Mt. Bohemia owner Black Bear, signed by all five Keweenaw County Commissioners and Keweenaw County Sheriff Ron Lahti. According to County Commissioner Don Keith, the letter stated that while the signers supported business endeavors that recognize community values, they strongly disapproved of "lewd conduct contrary to community morals."

Learn more about the author of this guest column, Alexis Levine.

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