The girl from Uniban - mid-thigh-length red dress

Herald News ServicesNovember 10, 2009

In Brazil, famed for its tiny bikinis and carefree attitude, a university student has been expelled after violent protests by students outraged at the short outfit she wore on campus.

The Universidade Bandeirante (Uniban) said it had expelled the student, Geysi Villa Nova Arruda, 20, for "flagrant disrespect of ethical principles, academic dignity and morality," in a statement published in some Sunday newspapers.

Her dress sparked student protests on Oct. 22 in this largely Roman Catholic country.

A video showed Arruda sitting in a classroom in a mid-thigh-length red dress, then six military police officers protecting her as she left the campus wearing a white jacket. A line of students stood by chanting "whore."

Another video showed a mob stopping and kicking her car and blocking her when she tried to escape on foot.

Uniban said it had also suspended a number of students identified by video footage and witness accounts of taking part in the violence last month. The university's legal adviser said Arruda had been expelled for "gestures" and "attitudes" she had manifested rather than because of her short outfits.