Good Girls?

Indulge yourself. Experience unparalleled pleasure in the form of two Ivy League blondes. Generous gentlemen only.

The ad, which appeared last fall in the now defunct Providence Eagle, attracted the attention of a number of not necessarily generous gentlemen in the Providence police force. They had been tipped off by officials of Brown University that some female students were possibly being coerced into performing sex for money. Last week, after a five-month undercover investigation, the police announced two arrests that not only cracked the case but stunned the Brown community, including the administration, alumni and parents.

According to police, Brown Seniors Dana Smith and Rebecca Kidd, both 21, had offered sex for $150 to Inspector Malcolm Brown. The two women pleaded innocent to misdemeanor charges. Police followed up the arrests by raiding the Providence apartment of insurance salesman Stanley Henshaw III. There they found, in addition to small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, more than 100 photographs of 46 women in various states of undress; six of the women were identified as present or former Brown students. Police Chief Anthony Mancuso, who has not charged Henshaw, commented cryptically, "There may not be a prostitution ring as we know a prostitution ring to be. We're just beginning. There could be more to come."

The student body's reaction was predominantly blase at Brown, a progressive liberal-arts bastion to which high schoolers seek admission more avidly than to virtually any other U.S. college (ten applications for each 1985 enrollment). Senior David Margulius called the situation "bizarre, but somehow not surprising. Brown students are always doing offbeat, experimental things. And they are pretty uninhibited in a lot of ways." Freshman Carol Putsel, 18, was even more matter-of-fact: "Just because it's a college campus doesn't mean that it's free of social problems."

University officials planned no disciplinary action against the arrested students and denounced any exclusive connection between the school and a prostitution ring. "I approach this with undisguised anger," said Robert Reichley, vice president for university relations. He noted that Brown went to the police in the first place "because we believe that young women at Brown and elsewhere may be victimized as part of these activities, and we acted primarily to protect them." And he stood firm in defending the school's own from any unsubstantiated charges. "We intend to be very direct," said Reichley, "in protecting the reputation and the welfare of our students and also that of Brown University."