The “sleepwalking man in his undies” at Wellesley College is a bit cold today. P.S. It’s a statue. (pic @Cymffee) pic.twitter.com/ppvmDlNQEs

— BostonTweet (@BostonTweet) February 5, 2014

The Dreher bait, it burns:

Getting to interact with art is one of the great pleasures of being human. Right now on Wellesley College’s campus there is a very lifelike piece of art just begging for people to interact with it. It’s a statue of a pasty man, wearing only his underwear, with his arms outstretched.

The statue is called Sleepwalker and it’s part of an art exhibit at the college’s Davis Museum, the Boston Globe explains. It’s been placed in a high-traffic zone right in the center of campus.

Naturally, a group of undergraduates at the women’s college petitioned the administration to take the horrible thing down at once, because it frightened them. From the petition:

The sculpture of the nearly naked man on the Wellesley College campus is an inappropriate and potentially harmful addition to our community that we, as members of the student body, would like removed from outdoor space immediately, and placed inside the Davis Museum. There, students may see the installation of their own volition.

Within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, the highly lifelike sculpture by Tony Matelli, entitled “Sleepwalker,” has become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for some members of our campus community. While it may appear humorous, or thought provoking to some, the “Sleepwalker” has already become a source of undue stress for a number of Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work on campus.

He’s their Boogey Man, that’s what he am.

[H/T: Several readers, who know me so well]