BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)–Samford University’s student directory has generated national attention after sharp-eyed students discovered the front cover was a mosaic of hundreds of tiny images featuring nude women and sex acts.
And while the student who designed the directory will face disciplinary charges, Richard Franklin, vice president and dean of students, told the Associated Press the book would not be recalled.
Franklin’s office did not reply to questions posed by Baptist Press.
The school’s decision not to recall the book has surprised some students at the traditionally conservative Baptist university. “They won’t let us have MTV, but we’ve got pornography on the directory,” said freshman Natalie Gavin.
The Baptist-affiliated school distributed thousands of the 100-page directory to students and faculty last week. Students quickly informed school officials that the cover mosaic over an image of model Christy Turlington contained pornography.
The cover’s artist, senior graphic design major David Carrigan, wrote in an e-mail apology, that he took the mosaic from a Web site and blurred the images with a computer.
“I surely would not have used the image had I known the content of the small photographs,” Carrigan wrote in the apology that was distributed to the student body. “I am personally opposed to pornography and its effect on society.”
The book is a 100-page photo directory of students, which, combined with a glossy magazine published later in the year, serves as the yearbook for Samford.
According to the Birmingham News, university officials were under the impression the cover featured pictures of Samford students in every day activities.
“The pictures are actually of people doing every day kinds of things: exercising, jogging, running and calisthenics,” Franklin told The Samford Crimson, the student newspaper.
However, Franklin and Carrigan did an about-face after an investigation revealed that Carrigan had lied. “I can only think of Peter’s denial of Christ for the sole sake of his own personal gain. As well, I have denied the truth in an attempt to shirk responsibility for my own actions,” he wrote in his apology to the university.
University officials said Carrigan will be punished for his actions.
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