Words by Lennon Nuttall PZ ’29, Graphic by Sophie Frankfurt PZ ’29

A final project for professor Thomas Kim’s “Intro to U.S. Politics” class at Scripps College is turning into a full-fledged “Free the Areola” movement at Pitzer College, with leading students emphasizing freedom and safety. 

Kim asked students to create their own political campaign and introduce it to their local communities, giving students insight into the inner workings of organizing and crafting legislation. Students Emily Mitchell PZ ’28, Aidan Evans, PZ ’28 and Theo Cleary PZ ’28 chose to take on clothing policy at Pitzer, using the project to develop a larger conversation around destigmatizing nudity.

The proposal would implement topless hours on Saturdays at the Pitzer pool, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. These hours emphasize an “opt-in” situation; those that want a time and place to be topless without penalization can have it, and those that are uncomfortable with nudity can know when to avoid the pool. This campaign aims to deconstruct the taboo of nudity in a safe and comfortable way for everyone. 

“For me, it’s about body neutrality,” Evans said. In our conversation, these three Pitzer students expressed that nudity is both an expression of personal freedom and a part of Pitzer’s culture, reminiscing about first Franzias and barefoot-Pitzer-man sightings. 

“I think the first time I heard about toplessness at the pool, I was like, ‘Whoa,’ but we talked to a senior who said that when she was a freshman it was way more normal to see that,” Mitchell said. 

Pitzer has a longstanding history of nudity, and it used to be significantly racier. A Pitzer staff member states that when they started at Pitzer nine years ago, “Naked bike rides used to be, like, completely naked.” 

Past Student Talk emails confirm this history of normalized nudity, with one 2018 email titled “Naked Girl Party”, and the email body stating: “Were you really jealous of the scripps naked brunch?!?! Well me and some girl friends are gunna have a girl naked party in my house tomorrow. All female identifying persons are welcome.” 

After talking to this staff member, they explained that Naked Brunch was a nude pool party at the Scripps pool that was a highly anticipated event for Scripps and Pitzer students alike. 

Another 2018 email titled “wash away your worries and get nakeeeee” advertising an impromptu naked run on Mudd field: “the rain is here! it’s wild out there! i don’t know about u, but i’m feelin stoked on this rare claremont weather! Come bathe in the rain on a naked run/frolic/maybe bike ride(?) at 7 (ish depending on rain).” 

Despite Claremont’s rich history with it, nudity became increasingly controversial and uncommon on campus. A later Student Talk email in 2019 titled “Deep thots from Bardot” addresses this, complaining about hearing stories about “the old Pitzer” and asking the crucial question: “Where’d all the naked ppl go?? ???? ??”

Well, the naked people are (hopefully) back. The legislation for topless hours will address gaps in the current safety protocol at the pool – some gaps being especially pertinent in the digital age – while also breaking the stigma around toplessness. 

“Right now, if a student is topless and then someone records them, they can’t really complain. There’s no formal political arena,” Mitchell said. Therefore, this legislation includes a no-phones policy in topless hours, along with a secondary safety clause that states that the hours will be limited to 5C students. The group intends to collaborate with the Gold Student Center, which oversees the pool, to enforce the phone policy.

When asked about their process in writing and promoting this legislation, the group expressed that they’ve received general support, but also caution from Student Senate to be prepared for the administration’s response. 

“There isn’t really anything that the administration’s going to get out of this and there’s a lot they can lose,” Mitchell said.

As a part of this project, the group also conducted in-person interviews and anonymous surveys to gauge public opinion on their campaign. “I think the survey is where we got the most negative, like, ‘Absolutely not, I don’t support this,’” Cleary said, “And in person it was definitely less.”

Interestingly enough, these surveys revealed that the group most uncomfortable with others taking their tops off were cisgender women, though the campaign overall had a 89.5% approval rating out of 133 responses. It showed that while nonbinary/trans and male identifying students had an average of 4.4 and 4.5 out of 5 comfortability rating, respectively, with others’ nudity at the pool, cisgender women averaged 4.1 out of 5. The gap in these statistics raises deep questions around how larger gender expectations and projections play into our ideas on public nudity. 

“Our entire point is that breasts are not sexual and bodies are natural,” Mitchell said. Therefore, not only do topless hours attempt to return Pitzer to its roots, but also to deconstruct taboos in a safe and healthy way for students.