Keith Twombley, newly elected Inter-Residence Hall Association president, sees more in belly buttons than a simple dimple in the abdomen.

Twombley’s Web site, www.bellybuttonporn.com, features photos of ISU students’ belly buttons in all shapes, sizes and sexes, primarily focusing on women.

But some are more risqu‚ than others.

Trisha Miehe, for example, has several photos displayed of her belly button – as well as the rest of her.

In two photos Miehe is completely nude, with small wavy lines of duct tape covering her nipples and creating a pattern to mimic a bikini.

Twombley said the Web site, which was a collaborative effort among his friends, launched in March.

“Asking girls for pictures of belly buttons started as a joke,” Twombley said. “Traditionally people go around asking women for pictures of their breasts. So I went around asking girls for pictures [of belly buttons] and it surprised me how many said it was OK.”

Miehe, junior in apparel merchandising, said she found out about the Web site through her boyfriend.

“My boyfriend . told me guys think that belly buttons are hot and that they wanted to make a Web site,” Miehe said. “I didn’t know Keith, but I e-mailed him a couple of pictures and then he came over and took some shots.”

Miehe said her boyfriend encouraged her involvement with the Web site.

“He likes it. He kind of likes to brag about me, I guess,” she said. “It was his idea for me to do all that.”

The duct-tape costume idea was hers, Miehe said.

“I’m in apparel design and I’m always just thinking or daydreaming about using new materials,” she said. “Every year around prom they make duct tape dresses and suits. It’s just for the fun of it.”

About five or six people have recognized her from the photos, Miehe said, but it doesn’t bother her.

“It’s kind of funny because sometimes people will be looking at me funny and I wonder, `Hmm, did they see me on bellybuttonporn?'” Miehe said.

“I don’t think it’s anything to be offended by, but if [people] are offended, they’re offended,” she said.

“It’s kind of nice that there are pictures of real people – they’re not all models you would see in a magazine.”

Twombley said he only puts up pictures with the permission of the person in the photograph, and can’t always use all the photos he is sent.

“If I think they’re decent I put them up,” Twombley said. “People submit a lot of pictures I don’t think are decent and I don’t put them up.”

Robin Steffen, sophomore in pre-advertising, is another student featured on the Web site.

“A friend of mine” told me about it, Steffen said. “She said it was basically a joke-type thing. It’s just my belly button, [so] I don’t care.”

Steffen said another friend was talking to Twombley online and told him she would pose, so he came over and took a picture.

“A guy on my floor [recognized me] and said, `Oh my God, I saw you on there,’ and said he thought I wasn’t that type of girl,” she said.

However, Steffen said she hadn’t seen the more provocative pictures of other girls on the site, and it “kind of bothered” her.

Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance President Abby Hansen said she thought the Web site was inappropriate for a student leader to promote.

“I think that, obviously, if the pictures are getting more risqu‚, it’s getting into the idea of more than just belly buttons,” said Hansen, senior in women’s studies.

“My issue is that he holds a leadership position and I don’t think IRHA would want to be associated with something like that,” she said.

“It seems unethical to me.”

Randy Alexander, director of the Department of Residence, declined to comment on the Web site.

Dave Boike, former IRHA vice president, said he didn’t see a problem with Twombley maintaining bellybuttonporn.com.

“The Web site is not a function of IRHA in any way, shape or form,” Boike said. “It’s a First Amendment situation, and Keith can do what he wants in his free time.”

The Web site does, however, display postings by Twombley encouraging students to vote for him for IRHA president and exaltations about his recent victory, “I win motherfuckers, I won IRHA. Okay girls, this is the part where you throw yourselves at me.”

Boike said he had no comment about that.

Twombley said his role as IRHA president is completely separate from his interest in the Web site.

“The personal lives of people in student government doesn’t affect their job,” Twombley said. “There are plenty of worse things I could do besides starting a Web site with the word porn in it.”

Twombley also said the notes he leaves are a way for people to know what is happening in his life.

“The front page is my little quandary of the web that I can spout off on,” Twombley said. “People vote for various reasons, and if someone wants to vote for me because I put up a joke as a Web site then that’s just as valid as flipping a coin.

“I don’t see it as a conflict of interest.”

Colleen Prosser, former IRHA secretary, is also featured on the Web site.

She said the site’s all in good fun.

“Keith was Towers president last year and I’m the IRHA secretary, so he brought his camera to a meeting one night and asked if he could take pictures, and I said `sure,’ ” Prosser said.

“You can’t really see anything in any of the pictures and I personally think it’s hilarious. It’s not like you can see anything you can’t see on TV. Leaders have to have fun too.”

Hansen disagreed, saying Twombley’s personal projects may require discretion.

“If he associates anything with IRHA and brings his identity as IRHA president into it, that’s not all right,” Hansen said. “That’s part of the responsibility you have if you’re in a leadership position, because people talk to you as if you’re in charge of the group you’re in.”

Hansen said she also felt uncomfortable with the portrayal of women on the site.

“So many girls will fall for that, not realizing their object status,” Hansen said. “You’re this sexualized object, your body becomes what’s important about you.”

Miehe said she does have self-respect, however.

“I respect myself and I know I’m more than just a belly button,” Miehe said. “It’s all lighthearted. I know I’m not perfect, but it’s kind of fun to pretend you are.”

The entry page to the Web site features five links.

Two claim to link to separate versions of bellybuttonporn.com – one for those who are 21 or older, and another for those who are not.

Both, however, go to the same site.

There are other links on the site: “underage porn,” “lolita” and “teen sex.”

All three, however, produce dozens of pop-up windows featuring obscene photographs. Additionally, an audio track with the words “Hey everybody, I’m looking at gay porno,” plays in a continuous loop.

Twombley said none of the site, including the links to obscene photographs, is to be taken seriously.

“It’s a big joke on the people who would click on that sort of thing,” Twombley said. “If you’re perverted enough to click on one of those links, you deserve to have that on your computer.”

Twombley said he has no plans on shutting down the Web site, as long as there is interest in it.

“If people are still actually going to the Web site and if people are sending me pictures, I’ll put them up,” he said.