Should Miss America wear a swimsuit? Viewers of the pageant will make the call--with the help of a 900 number.

Pageant organizers will let viewers call in during the three-hour live telecast Sept. 16 and decide whether the swimsuit segment should continue.

If the vote is yes, the swimsuit parade will be the final phase of competition before the winner is chosen. If the vote is no, a different program--which organizers would not reveal--will be substituted.

"I personally hope today's announcement will engender a national debate," Leonard Horn, chief executive of the Miss America Organization, said Wednesday. "Feminists have accused the pageant of exploitation. The question is, what about the American people?"

His own view is no secret: "I personally cannot rationalize putting a young college woman in a swimsuit and high heels."

The call will cost about 50 cents, and proceeds will go toward scholarship money for the winners or to some other charity.

While the vote will determine whether TV viewers see the swimsuit parade, the judges will continue to see it during the preliminaries. Scores from those segments help determine who the finalists are.

Horn acknowledged that ratings are obviously part of the reason the pageant is holding the vote the night of the contest rather than before.

When it was first televised in the 1950s, 75 percent of American TV households tuned in to the pageant. Ten years ago, that share had dropped to about 25 percent; last year, it was down to 14.3 percent--still a decent showing in the cable era, but far from a smash hit.

The pageant began in 1921 as a bathing-beauty contest on the Atlantic City, N.J., boardwalk.

To critics of the pageant, the pointy high heels, structured one-piece bathing suits, sprayed hairdos and use of double-sided duct tape to stuff those bodies into their costumes seem like a throwback to the 1950s.

"So much has changed. Does it really fit today?" Horn said of the swimsuit competition.

In an interview with The Crimson, Miss Massachusetts, Marcia M. Turner '96, said, "I'm not stickthin and I do well in swimsuit, but for me, it's not a focus. I focus on being up on current events."

Karen Johnson, national secretary for the National Organization for Women, questioned why pageant officials don't just eliminate the swimsuits without a vote. She called the 900-number "just another marketing gimmick."

This report was compiled with Associated Press wire dispatches.