This post is a collection of racially-themed parties and events at college campuses. \u00a0They’re examples of one kind of simple individual racism that still perpetuates daily life.<\/p>\n
———————————<\/p>\n
April 2017: The Kappa Sigma fraternity held a “Mexican Appropriation Party”<\/a> where students costumed as maids and laborers.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n February 2016: Students held a “Mexican-themed” party<\/a> with sombreros at Bowdoin College.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n October 2015: University of Louisville President James Ramsey held a staff Halloween party<\/a> where stereotypically Mexican sombreros, maracas, and bushy mustaches were handed out to guests. Latinos account for 3.4% of the college’s student population.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n October 2015: Members of UCLA’s Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority threw a “Kanye Western” party. According to UCLA’s Afrikan American Newsmagazine<\/a>, witnesses reported:<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n March 2015: Sigma Alpha Epsilon members and others at the University of Oklahoma sing<\/a>:<\/p>\n There will never be a nigger in SAE. ———————————<\/p>\n November 2014: “USA vs. Mexico” party<\/a> hosted by the Kappa Alpha fraternity at Randolph-Macon College.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n September 2014: Entries in a\u00a0“car costume” event by ENSOC, the\u00a0Engineering Society of the University of Canterbury, mock ebola victims, the violence in the Gaza strip, and the Taliban. Discussed here<\/a>\u00a0and the university’s official response can be read here<\/a>\u00a0(thanks to Mark B. and another anonymous tipster for the heads up).<\/p>\n Earlier that year, in May, the same group also put out a song parody featuring an actor in blackface. The negative response to this incident was swift<\/a>,\u00a0but it did not apparently make much impact on the group.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n February 2014: Photos from an\u00a0Olympics-themed mixer co-hosted by the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Columbia University, discussed here<\/a>. \u00a0Costumes and gags reflected racial\/national stereotypes.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n January 2014: The\u00a0Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Arizona State University\u00a0hosted<\/a>\u00a0a so-called Martin Luther King, Jr party in which “mocked blacks by donning loose basketball jerseys, flashing gang signs and drinking from hollowed-out watermelons.” Photos online were tagged with #hood.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n November 2013: The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity at California Polytechnic – San Luis Obispo threw<\/a> a “Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos” party.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n October 2013: The Delta Kappa Epsilon sorority at the\u00a0University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, throws a 60s-themed party<\/a> features “hippies” mixing with men in rice paddy hats. Faces blacked out. (Thanks to Holly for the link!)<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n July 2013: The Alpha Delta fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority at Dartmouth College hosted at “Bloods and Crips” party (story here<\/a>).<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n June 2013: A “Cowboy and Indian”-themed graduation party thrown by a California State University, San Marcos student (via the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center<\/a>). Ironically, the graduate majored in Anthropology.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n April 2013: This still is from a video celebrating the spring semester induction of new recruits into\u00a0UC Irvine\u2019s Asian-American fraternity Lambda Theta Delta (via Colorlines<\/a>). \u00a0It features a fraternity member in blackface. \u00a0The entire video can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n February 2013: Kappa Sigma Fraternity at Duke University throws an Asian-themed party<\/a>. The invitation opened with\u00a0“Herro Nice Duke Peopre!!<\/a>”<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n February 2013: Three hockey fans in the audience of a North Dakota high school semifinal donned\u00a0Ku Klux Klan-ish hoods as a “joke,” they later said.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n October 2012: The photograph below depicts the members of the Chi Omega sorority at Penn State (source<\/a>). \u00a0It was taken during a Mexican fiesta-themed party around Halloween. The signs read:\u00a0\u201cwill mow lawn for weed & beer\u201d and \u201cI don\u2019t cut grass I smoke it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Vice President of the college’s\u00a0Mexican American Student Association, Cesar Sanchez Lopez, wrote:<\/p>\n The Mexican American Student Association is disappointed in the attire chosen by this sorority. It in no way represents our culture. Not only have they chosen to stereotype our culture with serapes and sombreros, but the insinuation about drug usage makes this image more offensive. Our country is plagued by a drug war that has led to the death of an estimated 50,000 people, which is nothing to be joked about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The president of the sorority sent out an apology. \u00a0Penalties are under discussion as of this posting.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n May 2012: The University of Chicago\u2019s Alpha Delta Phi fraternity required pledges to wear\u00a0“Mexican labor outfits”\u00a0and sombreros while mowing the frat house lawn to Mexican\u00a0ranchera\u00a0music (source<\/a>).<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n March 2012: “Cowboys and Indians” party<\/a>, University of Denver, hosted by the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority:<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n February 2010: Members of the Athletics Union at the London School of Economics painted their faces brown and “dressed up as Guantanamo Bay inmates and drunkenly yelled \u2018Oh Allah\u2019…”\u00a0 At least 12 students were found to have dressed up in costumes that were deemed \u201cracist, religiously insensitive and demeaning.” Photos here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n October 2009: University of Toronto students decided to dress up like the Jamaican bobsled team from Cool Runnings for Halloween (source<\/a>). \u00a0Their costume, which earned them a “Costume of the Night” award at this college-sponsored party, included blackface.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n February 2007: Pictures from a “South of the Border” party at Santa Clara University in California.\u00a0 Indeed, that IS a pregnant woman, cleaning ladies, and a slutty gang member.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n January 2007:\u00a0A <\/a>party<\/a> in “honor” of Martin Luther King Day at Tarleton State University in Texas:<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n January 2007: A party <\/a>in “honor” of Martin Luther King Day at Clemson College in South Carolina.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n January 2007:\u00a0A <\/a>party<\/a> in “honor” of Martin Luther King Day at University of Connecticut School of Law.<\/p>\n ———————————<\/p>\n May 2007: A Mexican-themed party at the\u00a0University of Delaware<\/a>\u00a0(via\u00a0Resist Racism<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u00a0———————————<\/p>\n 2007: Students at Wilfrid Laurier University, celebrating Nations of the World, represented Jamaica by putting on blackface (via @LindaQuirke).<\/p>\n \u00a0———————————<\/p>\n October 2001: A Delta Sigma Phi Halloween party at Auburn University<\/a> (via<\/a>).<\/p>\nLisa Wade, PhD<\/a> is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of <\/em>American Hookup<\/a>, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender<\/a>; and a forthcoming introductory text: <\/em>Terrible Magnificent Sociology<\/a>.\u00a0You can follow her on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post is a collection of racially-themed parties and events at college campuses. \u00a0They’re examples of one kind of simple individual racism that still perpetuates daily life. ——————————— April 2017: The Kappa Sigma fraternity held a “Mexican Appropriation Party” where students costumed as maids and laborers. ——————————— February 2016: Students held a “Mexican-themed” party with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":68130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[209,29,34,3920,283,285,1760,1754,20063,1757],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-academia","tag-class","tag-education","tag-nation-united-states","tag-prejudicediscrimination","tag-raceethnicity","tag-raceethnicity-blacksafricans","tag-raceethnicity-latinos","tag-raceethnicity-prejudicediscrimination","tag-raceethnicity-whiteseuropeans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2013\/05\/36.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70244,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/70244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nYou can hang them from a tree, but they\u2019ll never sign with me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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