Brazilian students outraged by … a mini-dress?

SAO PAULO — 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, 20, a tourism student, wore it. In expelling her from the university — which has since reinstated her — 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 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.”

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

The case has been a hot topic in Brazil. But 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.”

Sen. Eduardo Suplicy, who represents Sao Paulo state and had called on the university to reinstate Arruda, will hold seminars to discuss the broader implications of the case, including behavior in an academic settings and attitudes toward women, Brown said.

Brown didn’t say if or when Arruda would return to the university. She has not made any public statements since being reinstated.

Arruda has said she would be afraid to go back. Her lawyer, Nehemias Domingos de Melo, said there must be safety guarantees for Arruda to return, adding that two other colleges have offered her full scholarships.

Brown said that if she came back, the school’s security guards would make sure she could study safely.

Videos of students ridiculing and cursing Arruda turned up on the Web, quickly making headlines across Brazil and drawing attention around the world.

Arruda was forced to put on a professor’s white lab coat to cover her short, pink dress and was escorted away by police amid a hail of insults by students, some chanting “whore, whore.”

The case drew widespread protests in Brazil — from government officials, a national students union, and local celebrities and others who used the color pink to frame their Twitter profile photos and send messages of support.

Civil police in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo outside Sao Paulo, where the university is located, said they will investigate the students accused of heckling Arruda. The university had said some would be suspended, but Brown announced with Arruda’s reinstatement that hecklers won’t be punished.

Arruda’s expulsion prompted a demand from the Education Ministry that the university explain why it had kicked her out. The Ministry said Tuesday that an explanation was no longer needed because she was reinstated, but that it would follow the case closely.

Although Brazil is known for revealing clothing — especially in beach cities, where one popular style of bikini is so skimpy that it’s called “dental floss” — most college students dress more modestly on campus, commonly in jeans and T-shirts.

“I always dressed in a way that makes me feel good and that doesn’t offend anybody,” Arruda told Brazil’s Globo TV. “I was always like that and was never recriminated by anybody.”