‘We don’t believe that bodies are inherently sexual’: Pitzer students campaign for topless pool hours

Three Pitzer College students attended a Pitzer Student Senate Open Forum on Nov. 9 to discuss their interest in establishing topless pool hours, sparking conversations about clothing policy as well as the college’s unique culture and historical context. 

The movement was born in Scripps College Professor Thomas Kim’s Intro to U.S. Politics class. Students were instructed to create a campaign that would result in measurable change. 

Emily Mitchell PZ ’28, Theo Cleary PZ ’28 and Aidan Evans PZ ’28 chose to address how students with breasts are unable to be topless in the Pitzer pool area due to instructions imposed from Campus Security and Gold Student Center (GSC) staff, in addition to the vague swimwear policy. 

“We don’t believe that bodies are inherently sexual,” Cleary said. “It’s not really your business what other people do with their bodies.” 

Pitzer’s current policy states that “Swimwear must be worn at the pool area,”and that clothing is required in public. The college does not specify stipulations according to sex or gender. Mitchell, Cleary and Evans’ proposal would allow for any student to be topless from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays in the GSC pool and patio area. Access to the pool would also be limited to 5C students and there would be a “soft rule” of no phones. 

On Nov. 6, three days before the forum, the group sent out an email via Pitzer listserv The Student Talk, which circulated a survey including a question asking if students would support their proposal. As of Nov. 14, they received 132 responses for “Yes,” and 16 responses for “No.”

“The idea of the survey was to demonstrate quantitatively to the [Pitzer Student] Senate that people are in support of this,” Cleary said. 

According to Mitchell, students have said that Campus Safety and GSC staff have instructed them to put their tops back on at the pool in the past. Mitchell said these students expressed feeling uncomfortable with these interactions; Cleary added that such interactions allow for other students, in addition to faculty and staff, to police people’s bodies and what they’re wearing.

According to a statement to TSL from Laura Muna-Landa, assistant vice president for communications and community relations at The Claremont Colleges Services, Campus Safety’s dispatch records did not show reports of “students without clothing in the pool area” at Pitzer. The statement also said that Campus Safety is not aware of a policy that specifically regulates swimwear or nudity at the Pitzer pool. 

Cleary and Mitchell acknowledged two primary concerns regarding toplessness at the pool: some people may be uncomfortable around topless people of all genders and professors’ children may be in the area. This is why their proposal would limit toplessness from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.  

“We can tell professors and community and staff members that topless hours are for the students only,” Micthell said.

Pitzer College has a long history of student advocacy for weakened regulations on clothing and swimwear. In March 2014, student senator Harry Johnson PZ ’14 introduced a resolution that would allow for students to wear less clothing on campus. 

This bill, like topless pool hours plan, included conditions to address concerns like the presence of minors or prospective families; nudity would be restricted during daytime hours and only to certain areas of campus. 

Johnson told TSL in 2014 that the bill would clarify Pitzer’s ambiguous policy around nudity on campus, which Mitchell and Cleary also identified as an issue with Pitzer’s current policy at the pool. 

Johnson and others who supported the bill also told TSL at the time that bodies didn’t always need to be sexualized and that the bill would address issues like body image and gender identity. There is no record of this bill being passed.     

For Mitchell, Cleary and Evans, their proposal is about much more than toplessness. 

“From what I understand, it used to be kind of a nudist campus and in general we think those values stem from some sort of hippie ties,” Cleary said. 

Mitchell said that upperclassmen and professors told her there used to be many more topless and barefoot people on campus. 

“Before COVID, this campus had so many more traditions and there was just a huge emphasis on community and culture,” Mitchell said. 

A TSL article from September 2023 highlights several students who took part in this culture by going barefoot. Over half a decade earlier, an article in Time magazine described Pitzer as “intensely informal” where “barefoot girls pad into class.” Cleary and Micthell said their proposal is a part of a larger effort to return this culture, which they say has largely been lost. 

Ava Salam SC ’28, another student in Kim’s class, expressed her support for topless pool hours at Pitzer, though she is in a group running a different campaign. 

“I think that topless hours … help to release stigma about people’s bodies and clothing and it’ll make everyone more comfortable,” she said. “If you don’t agree with it then you don’t have to be there.” 

Grace Wild SC ’28, while not in the class, said she’d like to see a similar policy implemented at Scripps. 

“I don’t think that women’s bodies should be regulated at a historically women’s college,” Wild said. “Especially when men and people who don’t identify as women can have their tops off, that’s a double standard.” 

Pitzer was also founded as a women’s college and became coeducational in 1970. 

Scripps’ current swimwear policy for their pool at Tiernan Field House says that female-identifying patrons “are required to wear swimwear that covers their chest.” 

In fall 2023, a group of Scripps students challenged this rule in their campaign, “Topless at Tiernan.” According to their Instagram account, the movement aimed to desexualize breasts and stop the policing of people’s bodies. On Fridays during existing Scripps-only hours, students planned to go topless. 

In one instance, according to an op-ed in The Scripps Voice in October 2023, administrators told topless students to cover their breasts, but this only motivated more students to take their tops off. The authors described Scripps’ swimwear policy as “anti-woman,” and “hypocritical,” given Scripps is an historically women’s college and has annual traditions like Naked Brunch for seniors. 

Deborah Gisvold, assistant dean and director of Tiernan Field House, said in a statement to TSL that at the time she asked students to adhere to their swimwear policy and would do the same today in accordance with their current policy. 

“Our policy is designed to maintain a space that is comfortable and inclusive for all,” she said. 

The group of Pitzer students expects that their plan will garner support, but remains skeptical about the administration’s response. 

“I think the administration might be uncomfortable with putting that as a resolution in our student handbook,” Mitchell said. 

Cleary said that even if the administration doesn’t accept their proposal and the rules can’t be revised right now, they still believe the culture can be changed. 

At the end of their interview with TSL, Cleary and Micthell said they wanted readers to hear one more thing, said in unison: “Free the nips!”