"Ivy League Grind: It's the Naked Truth," screeched the headline on the front page of yesterday's Philadelphia Daily News.
The story of an Engineering junior who posted photographs of a couple apparently having sex in the window of a high-rise dormitory was picked up by papers nationwide, from the Los Angeles Times to The Washington Post.
The Philadelphia NBC television affiliate even ran an investigative story last night about the motivation behind public sex acts.
The media spotlight that has descended on Penn has forced the University's hand in dropping charges against the student in the Hamilton College House sex-photo controversy.
What could have been a drawn-out process came to a close in a matter of days.
"The publicity was instrumental in getting the University to drop the charges," said Andrew Geier, the Psychology graduate student who initially agreed to advise the photographer. The student was charged with violating Penn's Code of Student Conduct, sexual-harassment policy and policy the use of electronic resources.
Charges against the student were dropped in a meeting between the Office of Student Conduct, Geier and the photographer yesterday.
The situation is reminiscent of the 1993 "water buffalo" free-speech scandal that rocked campus and made national headlines. Penn's decision to draw out proceedings against a student for violating a speech code sparked national outrage and embarrassed the University.
Penn officials did not make the same mistake this time.
Geier said that the meeting could possibly have been held next week but that the OSC "was panicked to have this meeting [yesterday] and for this to end."
"They really pushed for the earliest time," he said. "They were desperately looking for a way out."
The meeting with the OSC took no more than 10 minutes, Geier said.
OSC officials declined to comment on the matter. The University has declined any comment other than a brief statement released last night.
Geier said that he had received interview requests from a number of nationally known newspapers as well as offers to appear on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and MSNBC's Rita Cosby Live & Direct and Scarborough Country.
Geier declined to appear on the shows, saying that he did not believe that he would advance his advisee's case by doing so.
Regina Medina, the Daily News reporter covering the story, said she thinks that her paper's front page yesterday played a significant role in bringing a speedy end to the OSC's charges.
"I definitely think the front page [yesterday] just had people talking," she said, adding that she believes University officials "wanted to end this story."
"They're not even forcing this guy to apologize," she said.
For the most part, public opinion has run against the OSC's attempt to discipline the photographer. Medina said that while searching for quotes for her article, she could not find anybody who would take the OSC's side.
What turned this disciplinary matter into a national story were not just the salacious photos, she said, but the "missing link" between the photographer's actions and the charge of sexual harassment.
"It seemed preposterous," she said, to be accusing the student of harassment for taking and distributing the pictures.
The sexual aspect of the story cannot be underemphasized, though.
"When there's nude photos and free speech involved," Medina said, "the Daily News is there, up front and personal."
And the University was paying attention.
