University of Waterloo’s Formula SAE Team Suspended over this Bikini Picture

Apparently the University of Waterloo moved to Amish country in Pennsylvania, or better yet the Middle East, because apparently they frown upon women wearing bikinis. The Waterloo Region Record reported on Tuesday that the school was shutting down the Formula SAE team that was building this race car for an international competition after a picture of one of the team members posing in a bikini by the car was released:

The suspension is until June 1 and “results from misuse of the student design centre space for an unauthorized photo shoot involving the Formula SAE vehicle,” said the dean of engineering, Adel Sedra, in a memo that was sent to all engineering students, according to the Record.

If that’s not a bad enough reason to suspend the team, then maybe this will make you feel even worse. The student “was entering a contest to be in a calendar, which would be helping to raise money for charity, and she needed the photos as part of her application” apparently.

Look, I don’t know too much about the situation other than what I’ve read, but this punishment surely seems excessive and unnecessary. If you’re looking to send a message, there are many more ways to do it than this. Why suspend the whole team for the picture? It doesn’t seem like that was needed, unless of course the school’s goal was to make every website in America for an outrageous punishment. Now if that was the goal, then they did a great job.