NEW HAVEN — Her dad was Skull and Bones. So was her grandfather and great-grandfather. By not joining Yale’s secret society, Barbara Bush broke with that tradition.
But she embraced another – the naked party.
Yale’s naked parties have been described as an intellectual salon without the clothes. Incoming freshmen hear about the ritual long before setting foot on campus.
The creme de la creme of naked parties is the springtime event held by the Pundits, a society synonymous with streaking through the library during finals. This one is invitation only for about 40 to 50 “A-list” guests. A bouncer checks names at the door.
In the spring of 2002, Barbara Bush, then a sophomore, arrived at a house on Crown Street for the fun, according to at least two people who saw her there. Not known: the whereabouts of her Secret Service protection.
Like everyone else at the party, sources say, she left her inhibitions at the door and her clothes in a changing room, then mingled with the other guests over wine, cheese and pool.
Naked parties are not orgies, not even close, despite their name, say those who attend. Stripped of clothing and other status markers, students are rendered equal. There’s more eye contact, less small talk. Everyone’s vulnerable.
“At most clothed parties, it’s more overt that people are hitting on each other – naked parties are actually less sexual,” one student was quoted as saying in a 1999 Yale Daily News story titled, “Nude Haven.”
In 2002, rumors about Barbara in the buff ran rampant on campus. A year later, porn king Larry Flynt caught wind of it and reportedly offered a million bucks for film of the presidential twin, according to a blurb in The New York Post. But nothing materialized. In fact, aside from a vague reference in a student newspaper, nothing more about Bush’s party appearance surfaced until police were deep into their investigation of a sexual assault on another guest who had left the party.
Rumpus, an off-color tabloid produced by Yale students, alluded to the soiree in a May 2002 column titled, “Rumpus Rumpus: Rumors, Truths We Couldn’t Prove and Other Allegations.”
“If you are a daughter of a very important person and shun media exposure, why would you expose your whole self at a naked party this spring?” the editors wondered. “Secret exhibitionist tendencies? Following in the family tradition of doing stupid [expletive] at college that will come back to haunt you later? Or just showing off that reportedly blissfully cellulite-free booty?”
A call to the White House seeking comment from Barbara Bush was referred to the office of her mother, first lady Laura Bush, which declined to comment this week.