<p>MLK Party Causes Uproar on Texas Campus </p>
<p>By JEFF CARLTON
Associated Press Writer</p>
<p>"DALLAS (AP) -- Authorities at Tarleton State University said they plan to investigate a Martin Luther King Jr. Day party that mocked black stereotypes by featuring fried chicken, malt liquor and faux gang apparel.</p>
<p>"I feel like there is no excuse for this type of ignorance," said Donald Ray Elder, president of the Stephenville school's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.</p>
<p>Photographs posted on social networking Web site Facebook.com showed partygoers wearing Afro wigs and fake gold and silver teeth. One photo showed students "mocking how African-Americans do step shows," Elder said. In another picture, a student is dressed as Aunt Jemima and carries a gun.</p>
<p>"That upsets me," Elder said. "That's someone who knows nothing about Dr. King, because Dr. King was totally about nonviolence."</p>
<p>Link to Tarleton's President's response: <a href="http://www.tarleton.edu/PresLetter/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.tarleton.edu/PresLetter/index.htm</a></p>
<p>Gosh NSM - after the same thing occurred last fall at one of our flagships and was publicly condemned, you would think these kids would learn! Very discouraging.</p>
<p>Btw...my alma mater is a university in southern Louisiana with a very strong black fraternity and sorority presence and the step shows (we called them stomps) which were usually performed in front of the student union were such a treat. It was definitely one of the things that we all felt 'made' our university. I used to blather on about it to my kids and they didn't get it until my d saw her first college step show. Now she gets it. :)</p>
<p>I tell you- stupid stupid students</p>
<p>why do they post the pictures, I mean the party was tacky and icky enough, then to share pictures....stupppiiiiddd</p>
<p>amazing they got into college in the first place</p>
<p>but at least with the pictures, we can see that this kind of stuff is alive in America....</p>
<p>where are their brains...oh yeah, in the carefully disguised brown bags of booze</p>
<p>I disagree with the photos, but I don't think it is grounds for punishment. That's freedom of speech/expression no matter how distasteful it may be. The fact that facebook is being used to incriminate these students sounds like a witchhunt in my opinion.</p>
<p>Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. </p>
<p>No one is prohibiting these kids from making a$$e$ of themselves for all the world to see; but if peers, faculty/staff (sources of future recommendation letters) or potential employers see this stuff and make a decision to withhold opportunities, well that's their right too.</p>
<p>It's a whole new world now with Facebook and MySpace and people advertising their lives on them including the seedier sides of their lives. I could be sitting in the middle of Siberia right now and access those sites and learn quite a bit about them. More and more employers are checking these sources as well. I'd be very reluctant to place anyone exhibiting racist behavior into a management or hiring position or any customer-facing position. Hopefully these students were more stupid than racist.</p>
<p>This was stupid behavior in the first place followed by a stupid decision to advertise their antics on a public forum.</p>
<p>I agree that an employer should have every right to judge someone negatively for such actions...but I am interested to see how the University responds to the NAACP.</p>
<p>I think alot of kids get confused by what they see in intertainment. They mimic what they see on a program (chapelle, living color, mad, etc.) without understanding that not everybody is in on the joke. Like parrots, they mimic without alot of thought. </p>
<p>I'm not blaming the shows themselves because they are entertainment and you clearly are aware they're entertainment. What's lost on some is that you can't take a sketch from an entertainment program and turn it out without issue. </p>
<p>I'm not saying there's a program directly responsible, this is an assumption. I don't necessarily think these kids are of the KKK variety, but more of the tasteless joke breed. They didn't think about how things are perceived in reality vs. entertainment. </p>
<p>I'm not endoursing this party at all. It was pretty stupid. But I'm sure when their parents asked "what were you thinking?", the answers will mainly be "I dunno" with a shrug. And you know, that's probably and honest answer.</p>
<p>Greenface, I would hope that you would be particularly interested in how the school responds to Mr. Elder's concerns because, as the article indicated, he is a student and therefore a member of the university community. In my opinion, your comment seems to indicate that you regard him as an outsider because he is a member of the NAACP.</p>
<p>No, but he is no more a student than any of the other students. Unless this party was sponsered by a university organization (e.g. a fraternity or club), then essentially the students were partaking in their own private party. It's freedom of speech and seperate from the University. </p>
<p>I am interested to see how the University responds to his comments because they shouldn't do anything. They have no right to. The party was clearly ignorant and wrong, but the University has no right to punish students for what they do in their free time as long as it is lawful activity.</p>
<p>
[quote]
the University has no right to punish students for what they do in their free time as long as it is lawful activity.
[/quote]
Many colleges have respect/discrimination/civility/harrassment rules that this party could have violated. Further, the event could have broken other rules regarding party policies, alcohol use, dorm rules, etc. </p>
<p>There was a similar party at my college last year, and it ended up on national news. The college has since expanded diversity training, respect guidelines, and has made other changes.</p>
<p>I just read through their code of conduct and couldn't find any clause dealing with race for the students. There was something in the code of ethics for the staff, however.</p>
<p>I would be horrified and ashamed if my son were ever involved in anything like this. The very best construction one could put on this behavior is "clueless". To me, it goes beyond that to at least mean-spiritedness. Young adults, presumably with some education, should know better than to act like this.</p>