Brazil College Backs Down on Mini-Dress Expulsion

In this photo taken on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, student Geisy Arruda poses at her home in Sao Paulo...

In this photo taken on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, student Geisy Arruda poses at her home in Sao Paulo wearing the same dress that she was expelled for wearing on campus at Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil. The Brazilian government sought an explanation Monday from the private university that expelled Arruda for wearing the dress to class.

(Leticia Moreira/ Folha Imagem/AP Photo)

Brazil's case of the pink mini-dress that went viral on the Internet has left many scratching their heads: How could it be that an outfit, no matter how short, would cause such an uproar in a tropical nation where skimpy clothing and tiny bikinis barely raise an eyebrow?

The answer, a Bandeirante University official said, is not in the pink dress, but in how Geisy Arruda, a 20-year-old tourism student, chose to wear it. In expelling her from the university — where she has since been reinstated — officials said she paraded provocatively and raised the dress.

"There are hundreds of girls wearing miniskirts on this campus every day, and nothing has ever happened," Vice Dean Ellis Brown said at a news conference Tuesday. "The size of the dress was never discussed — her behavior was."

Arruda has vehemently denied acting provocatively, telling the private Agencia Estado news agency: "It's a big lie that I raised the dress."

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In reversing the decision to expel Arruda, Brown said the school was opting for educational rather than disciplinary action.

He said the university was not wrong in its initial decision because it followed internal rules, but admitted the reaction in Brazil and around the world played a part in Arruda's reinstatement. He said the attention was hurting the other 60,000 students at the university.

Maisa dos Santos, 38, a maid in Rio de Janeiro, called the dustup absurd. She guessed it was the result of different attitudes in Sao Paulo, known in normally carefree Brazil as a city that is all work, no play.

"The people in Sao Paulo, they're just squares. There was nothing wrong with that girl's dress," Santos said. "If I had a body like hers, I'd show it off, too. Besides, here in Rio, it's too hot to wear much clothing."

Some who studied with Arruda confirmed the school's view that the dress was never the problem.

"She extrapolated," 22-year-old engineering student Adriana Santiago said. "It wasn't normal the way she was acting that day and it wasn't normal how she acted before. It wasn't a surprise it happened."