WWW- While most students were busy studying for finals last spring, Victoria Thornton was posing for the cover of Playboy.

Thornton, a business sophomore, is one of 14 ASU girls pictured in this month’s “Girls of the Pac-10” college issue.

Four of the models were signing copies outside Campus Corner at University Drive and College Avenue Wednesday, while a line of about 50 men and two women gripped their magazines and patiently waited to get a moment with the girls.

“ASU has the most girls of any Pac-10 college,” Playboy Publicist Theresa Hennessy said. Forty-eight girls from Pac-10 schools were selected to be in the magazine.

Because the photo shoots took place off campus, ASU cannot do anything about it, Vice President of Public Affairs Virgil Renzulli said.

“We don’t encourage it, though. It was inappropriate,” he said. “We find Playboy offensive to women.”

But Renzulli doesn’t think it will affect ASU’s image. It is not the first year the school has been in the magazine, and other schoolsare represented, he said.

The casting and photo session was in late April. Two weeks later, Thornton was asked to fly to Los Angeles to photograph the inside cover and attend a party at the Playboy Mansion, she said.

The cover shoot took one day, Thornton said.

“It took five hours just to cover me in body paint,” she added, referring to the painted-on football jersey she wears.

George Carillo, operations junior at ASU’s Polytechnic campus, was in line to get his copy signed and said the girls’ layouts could help ASU.

“As long as it brings interest to the school, it will help it make money,” he said.

Courtney Catch, a recreation junior, got one issue autographed as a gift for a friend, as well as one for herself.

“It’s nice to see beautiful women’s bodies,” she said. “And it makes it more special that we can get their autograph.”

Hennessey said Playboy has published a college issue every October for the last 28 years. Conferences are rotated each year. The Pac-10 was last featured in 1999.

The girls were required to make up last names to protect their privacy.