UA students bare all for Playboy magazine

Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo Courtesy of Summer Morgan Journalism junior Summer Morgan poses for a picture after the Playboy magazine photo shoot. Five University of Arizona women were photographed by Playboy magazine when officials came to campus about two weeks ago searching for women to appear in their "Women of the Pac-10" issue on Aug. 31.

Twenty-three years later, Morgan shed her clothes yet again to pose for Playboy magazine last month.

"I've always like to be in front of the camera," said Morgan, a journalism junior at the University of Arizona.

Five UA women were photographed by Playboy magazine when representatives came to campus about two weeks ago. The officials were searching for female students to appear in their "Women of the Pac-10" issue, scheduled to hit news stands Aug. 31.

Playboy founder and editor in chief Hugh Hefner will decide whose pictures will be printed after senior editors in the Chicago office narrow the candidates further, said Eden Orfanos, a Playboy spokeswoman.

The models must wait until the issue is printed to discover if they made the final cut, Orfanos said.

"They like to keep everyone guessing," she said.

Morgan said her image has undergone changes since her high school days.

"I have always been in the nerdy groups of kids," she said. "But I wanted to be."

Since she left behind her high school peers who teased her for caring about studying, Morgan has been able to focus on academics.

"I'm so scared life is going to end before I get to do everything," she said.

Marketing junior Lacey Ballantyne said she was a little nervous, but is now looking forward to Aug. 31.

"I can't wait to get my copy and put it in a frame," Ballantyne said, adding that she plans to send her mother a signed copy of the magazine.

Ballantyne said students in the Greek Mythology class she teaches are not acting differently.

"The students have seen me before at the bar so I think they know I have a life and am not a hermit," Ballantyne said.

About 65 UA women tried out for the issue, which is expected to have 12 pages of college women in the buff, Orfanos said. The women photographed were paid "well" for their efforts, she said, but declined to disclose the amount.

Officials looked for women with a diversity of looks to make a "good cross section of college girls" including those with small breasts, she said.

"Women with "A" cups can be really, really sexy," Orfanos said.

Perspective models were met with two requirements - they had to be older than 18 years old and UA students, Orfanos said.

"We can usually tell when the girl walks in if we want to shoot her or not," she said.

Playboy officials search for women who are comfortable in front of the camera and have a strong sense of self, Orfanos said. Photographers also look at their mannerisms, she said.

The five UA students were photographed at Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, 638 E. University Blvd., and at actress Farrah Fawcett's old house in Tucson.

"It was like being in a big doll house," Morgan said about being photographed at Fawcett's former home.

Music senior Lori Ligouri said the Playboy photographers made her feel comfortable while posing nude by telling her what each step would entail.

"It was just like taking a picture in the shower," she said.

Ligouri said she told her parents she modeled after the pictures were taken.

"They don't really know what to say because it's done with," she said.

Ligouri said she wants to be an elementary school teacher after she graduates this month and would be "surprised" if her future students ever obtained a copy.

"If one of my students brought Playboy to class I would be like 'wow,'" Ligouri said.

Morgan, who was a "Budweiser Girl" in 1997, said studying science is her passion.

"I am far more interested in academics," Morgan said. "I'm very excited to be in the professional world."

But she said for right now she wants a "normal school week" where nobody mentions her Playboy experience.