Angela Stewart

For the past week auto blogs and social networking sites have been buzzing about the suspension of the University of Waterloo’s FSAE team after one of its members took photos with the car clad in a bikini and high heels.

The model is an engineering student herself and helped design and build the car she is pictured with here.

The photo was taken in the newly opened Student Design Center. The photographer (another engineering undergrad student) posted some of the photos on an online photography website. After the administration found the pictures online, action was prompted that led to the eventual suspension of the team.

The FSAE team is student run, sponsor funded, and builds a racecar from scratch. The administration has suspended the team until June 1. The team was set to race at a competition in Michigan in May, but will be forced to miss out. Sponsors of the team have subsequently spoken out against the heavy-handed administration, saying that a warning would have sufficed.

The student was intending to use the photos as part of her application package for a calender, the aim of which was to promote the beauty, accomplishments and intelligence of university students. A portion of the proceeds would have gone to support cancer research. She has since stepped down from her leadership position on the student team ...