The List

I’ve heard the rumor every year: Playboy’s got their list out again — the sexiest college campuses and St. Olaf is on it. Hey, why shouldn’t we be, with our blonde-haired blue-eyed Scandinavians running all over the place? Sounded legit to me!

However, I’ve never actually seen the list. So, my brother decided to check things out. Typing “St. Olaf” and “Playboy” into his Lexis-Nexis search, he comes up with an article called “Life on the Internet” from the archives of the Bismarck Tribune (we grew up in Bismarck). Featured in the very article is my brother himself! Turns out he participated in a roundtable discussion about the “new Internet” back in 1995 …. someone in the roundtable discussion mentioned Playboy in one sentence, Ryan mentioned St. Olaf a few sentences later. Thus, “St. Olaf and Playboy.” Pretty freaky when the results of your search are actually …. you.

Turns out the list is actually an urban legend that’s traveled around college campuses for years (hey, your college was probably on the list, too!). Until Playboy decided to turn the legend into truth.

St. Olaf isn’t on it. Are you?

Posted on October 5th, 2001 by Lynsey in lynsey.org