The University of Kansas has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a Twitter fan page called @KUboobs committed to posting pictures of deep-cleavaged women wearing low-cut KU shirts. The page became a sensation in Feb. 2012 when a female Jayhawk fan began sending in 'boob selfies' pictures of her cleavage in KU inscribed T-shirts.
The introductory message of the page says, "Join the boobment! We wear crimson & blue PROUDLY across our chests for the whole world to see. Not affiliated with The University of Kansas."
The page has close to 60,000 Twitter followers.
On June 10, Monday, KU Boobs tweeted saying: "KU Boobs has been ordered to cease and desist by The University of Kansas by June 12, 2013. If you have ever wanted to submit a #kuboobs pic and never have, this is your last chance! #SaveKUboobs"
Responding to their message, several women tweeted pictures of their cleavage with the hashtag #SaveKUboobs.
The university alleges that they do not have a problem with @KUboobs, which is not associated with the university. The officials feel that the page's manager, local DJ Ken Soap, has overstepped by producing merchandises, which include wristbands and some other paraphernalia bearing the school's logo and letters that clearly violate KU's Federal trademark.
"That violates KU's Federal trademark, which the University must protect," said Jim Marchiony, associate athletic director."We've asked them to stop selling that merchandise, not to shut down the Twitter account."
The @KUboobs Twitter phenomenon, 'boobment' was born, February 2012, when the Jayhawks men's basketball team was losing to their arch-rival Missouri Tigers by nearly 20 points. In order to change the course of the game, Tiffany Kent, a hardcore KU fan, tweeted a picture of her breasts in a Jayhawks T-shirt with the hashtag #kuboobs. The Kent's breasts did seem to prove lucky for the team as it won the game by a single point.
Since then, the tag #kuboobs started to trend on Twitter.
"One of my friends tweeted me and said, 'you should see the #kuboobs that you started.' And I was like, 'what are you talking about?' All of a sudden they're everywhere," Kent said.
"I did have one friend imply it might not be the classiest thing to do, but in my mind it is fun and it is a good time to be a KU fan," Kent said. "If you don't like #kuboobs, you don't have to look at them."
This phenomenon inspired other college and universities to start similar pages. Currently, there are 30 cleavage-related accounts on Twitter including @UF_Boobs, @bamaboobs and @arboobs and @BYUBoobs, whose posters remain anonymous.