Meanwhile on the other coast, this happened:
I suspect the eggers in this incident are likely to agree with the OP that the PC police are going way overboard to find evil everywhere… Clearly, the eggers are just having a good time with a playful prank. Is good wholesome fun even legal anymore? The next thing you know, they’ll be crashing my Yellow Fever party and outlawing “me love you long time” party invites. :((
I’m being sarcastic.
I agree that any student holding a public office needs to be subject to the opinions of the student body that they represent.
However, the underlying issue is to what extent Bowdoin has set clear ground rules about hurtful ethnic stereotyping, and then communicated those ground rules to the students. Where is the boundary line that a student should not cross? (And furthermore, is that boundary line reasonable?)
The appearance is that Bowdoin has shifted the line very recently, considering the Wash Post article describing the alumni reunion con sombrero last June.
Also – this involves more than impeachment of the two class officers. Several students have been disciplined by Dean Foster, including some being forced out of their rooms. The decsription below, from the Bowdoin Orient, includes the disturbing point “he was sanctioned without meeting with a dean or being asked to explain the image”. This does not lend credence to the thesis that the Bowdoin administration is being reasonable and fair in its enforcement of whatever the new, fuzzy standard of behavior is.
From the Orient:
According to one of party’s hosts, she has been placed on social probation until March 2017, must participate in an educational program and Active Bystander Training, must move out of her room in Stowe Hall into Chamberlain Hall and has been banned from Ivies-related events and Spring Gala.
A sophomore who attended the “tequila” party and was photographed wearing a sombrero said he was placed on social probation until Fall 2016. Although he confirmed with a dean that he attended the party and wore a sombrero in a photo posted to Facebook for a short period of time, he said he was sanctioned without meeting with a dean or being asked to explain the image.
Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster declined to comment on the punishments.
Bowdoin Orient?
Isn’t the use of the name “Orient” a cultural appropriation?
^^^Well, Bowdoin is located in an east coast state, unfortunately it is the east coast of North America.
This is incredibly heavy handed. The students should have party administration themed party where attendees dress up as their favorite Dean or Provost. Jack boots and swastikas would be appropriate.
Actually, it is about the sombreros. A party with tequila, Mexican food, mariachi music, and even Mexican decorations most likely would not have caused a stir. It’s dressing up in the sombreros that looks like mockery–a milder version of the reaction to blackface. The line is subtle enough that I believe a big freak-out over it is not justified, although pointing out the line is valuable education.
Re: http://www.dailycal.org/2016/03/04/346750/
Why is it not surprising that the offending stuff came from a fraternity?
(Of course, do any Greek (ethnicity) students find it offensive to refer to fraternities as “Greek” when discussing problematic stuff that they do?)
Anyone offended by a mini sombrero in the privacy of a dorm room had best steer clear of any and all Burger Kings these days. The posters for Jalepeno Chicken Fries will make your head explode. If Bowdoin sensitivites existed on Main Street USA, there would be rioting in the streets.
@PragmaticMom it’s one thing to hold elected student government officials accountable to the student body, although the standard by which they are held accountable seems extremely subjective. Like the author of the Washington Post article said, one might innocently think a reasonable litmus test is that if it’s regularly seen in major chain Mexican restaurants, it’s okay. Also there are other articles that the Bowdoin alumni association recently had a photo booth with assorted hats and costumes at an alumni event, including - horrors - sombreros. So it’s somewhat hypocritical and self righteous of the Bowdoin president to condemn and punish students for this. And the part about kicking students out of their dorm housing for hosting a tequila party is truly alarming.
Some good student written pieces: http://bowdoinorient.com/article/11018
http://bowdoinorient.com/article/11035
This theme was an excuse to get drunk and drink tequila, no harm in that.
Same way we celebrate cinco de may, St. Patricks day and other holidays.
It is an excuse to party, no one creates a party with spiteful intentions, not like this anyways.
I’m surprised that in the USC story (post #20) the writer brings up internment of Japanese Americans and a racist comment to an Indian student in a story of a racist incident with a Chinese student. We should really stop generalizing the whole Asian continent. It’s that type of generalization that leads to racist comments in the first place.
Probably why all of these PC stories sound so bizarre to me. Students obsessing over the goofiest stuff, and often creating problems that don’t exist.
I just can’t relate to this strange PC culture as it didn’t really exist at my college. If you weren’t busy doing homework, you were out hiking around, watching movies with friends, or talking about your next weekend adventure somewhere fun. Not enough time or interest to sit around discussing which group is most “marginalized”.
Sometimes I think these kids take life too seriously.
Hunt, if a sombrero is "mockery,’’ what exactly is it mocking?
I get whiplash from having to either honor / acknowledge others’ cultures or having to ignore them entirely and pretend they don’t exist for fear of “reappropriating” them.
I listened to an NPR podcast this morning about a girl in Pakistan who escaped being the victim of an honor killing by her father and uncle. THAT’s who is oppressed. Not a Hispanic student at one of the nation’s top colleges (getting beaucoup aid thanks to full freighters) who sees another student wearing a sombrero at a Mexican theme party.
Honestly, it’s nonsense like this that makes the rise of buffoons like Donald Trump possible. Neither extreme is rational.
Hunt, why are you singling out the sombreros as the offensive thing, when the tequila, decorations and mariachi music are not? I have yet to see a mariachi band or Mexican dance troupe that didn’t wear broad-rimmed hats, so it seems strange to separate the costume as mocking but not the music. After all, non-Mexicans definitely mimic (SJW might say mock) the “ay yai yai yai” sounds and sappy themes in Mexican folk tunes, and I’m sure some upper-class Mexicans could get irritated that Americans think their homes are decorated with coarse woven tapestries.
@Pizzagirl I read the articles posted and did not see any reference to the financial situation of any of the student s who were offended?? Do you know they are receiving “beaucoup” financial aid or are you just assuming that because they are Hispanic?? If you are just assuming all Hispanic students are being supported by “full freighters” I find that way more offensive than the idea of the Mexican themed party…My child is on significant aid at her college - does this mean she should just shut up and accept things she might perceive as unfair or racist?
“I just can’t relate to this strange PC culture.”
This “strange” PC culture is all about finding value in cultures, and not using props that others have used to denigrate those cultures, even if you yourself did not intend that. People make honest mistakes, such as Benedict Cumberbatch who said “colored actors” when he meant to say “actors of color.” And then others make intentionally hurtful remarks, such as a public figure who mimics a person with disabilities. It’s all about context.
Whether the Bowdoin students meant to denigrate, or didn’t think about it, or did think about it but felt it was not derogatory - whatever, this is an appropriate discussion to have.
@highbury beat me to it. Assuming Hispanic students are on scholarship? Even if they were, so what?
As is usually the case with “these things”, we don’t have the whole story or the context and it’s likely as non-members of the Bowdoin community, we never will. For all we know these students were yelling “Mexicans go home” at Hispanic students while wearing these sombreros, or whatever.
Still waiting for an explanation of how a sombrero mocks, denegrates, whatever. There is nothing at all wrong with inventing a hat that protects you from the elements. What connotations are you seeing that are objectionable?