West Chester University students seek public apology

PHILADELPHIA Students rallied at West Chester University on Wednesday to protest the sale of a six-inch inflatable “perfect female specimen” doll at the campus bookstore and ask for a public apology from the school.

About 40 students turned out to discuss the doll, which was pulled from the bookstore’s shelves on Friday after it was discovered by a student and shared online.

The doll’s package shows a cartoon of a woman in her underwear and says “Inflate for an instant date!” Some students said the product, which instructs the user to punch the doll in order to make it blow up, objectifies women and promotes violence.

On Wednesday morning, University President Greg R. Weisenstein sent an e-mail to the campus community calling the incident a teaching moment.

“This tasteless and offensive merchandise raised concerns from many on campus who correctly view it as demeaning of women and encouraging of behaviors antithetical to WCU’s mission and values,” he said. He noted that the bookstore had apologized.

A Friday tweet from the WCU Campus Store Twitter account, which has 658 followers, read: “We apologize for any offense this may have caused. We have removed the 6in “inflate-a-date” from the sales floor.”

Graduate student Irissa Baxter, who helped organize Wednesday’s rally, said the Twitter apology was not enough. The students plan to hold a sit-in at Weisenstein’s office Thursday morning to ask for a formal public apology from the school and encourage Weisenstein to address concerns about systemic violence.

“This is not adequate,” Baxter said after the rally. “Students want to be heard and respected and have their concerns be treated with due respect.”

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