Hopefully this will lead to something good. Exposure to other cultures by sensitivity programming, that I'm sure will be a part of the sanctions imposed by Chi O HQ, will be eye opening for this group and maybe the entire Greek Community. In some quarters discrimination against Hispanics, especially Mexicans, has taken root due to the contentious debate on immigration reform. Sometimes we need to be reminded that there are real people on the other end of the debate and not just caricatures.

Apology
 

Interestingly, Chi Omega apologized to NALFO:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/100750107/N...ment.NALFO.PDF

Personally, I'd rather see an apology from the Penn-dejas in question than their national president.

Agreed!

i thought it was a funny social and screw whoever thought it was racist grow a sense of humor and stop getting so critical of people dang

Punctuation is your friend.

I have found something could related to this situation, or it could be just a well-timed coincidence, but the effects of this becoming a big news story could actually be making people re-think party themes that may be culturally inappropriate.

There are a certain type of specialty charter cruises for adults only (let's just leave it at that). Typically every night of the cruise is a theme party- Rock N Roll, Mardi Gras, Pirates, whatever. The themes are usually announced a few months in advance to give people time to obtain their costumes & accessories.

For one of the upcoming cruises, one of the theme nights was, yes, Mexican, and was described as follows:

Wear your straw hat, poncho, and fake moustache.* Bring a stuffed Chihuahua, some maracas and get ready to dance to some of the best Latin dance music around. Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of tequila and cervezas for you. While you are in Playa Del Carmen, shop for some great authentic outfits or some great lightweight linens or cotton styles.

*Sound familiar?

Well, yesterday one of the cruise organizers announced that Mexican night has been replaced with Fetish Night. I can't help but wonder if there's a connection...

Fetish Night? Oh BOY. Sign me up. Right away.

ETA: oh, nevermind.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Brilliant.

^^That bird? WANT.

How do you grow humor?

See below:

Punctuation is not the only problem here. Oh my.

Yeah, I'm not even touching the lack of insight or logic.

It's been over 20 years since I was a chapter adviser so things probably have changed. I remember approving/disapproving themes for events.

My question - Do chapters still have to run mixer themes past an adviser? If not, situations like this certainly suggest to me that it might be a good idea. If so, some advisers need more cultural awareness.

Yeah, but like "hey, we're having a fiesta" probably wouldn't raise an eyebrow with most advisers.

True - although NOW it certainly will.

On our campus, groups have to register events with the office of greek life. That office has always been really good about letting advisers know when their groups are considering questionably themed parties.

On our campus, groups have to register events with the office of greek life. That office has always been really good about letting advisers know when their groups are considering questionably themed parties or are engaging in otherwise questionable behavior.

While training for advisors is up, I think I would have to say the number of advisors and probably how long they have been advisors or stay in an advisory position is down. If the ratio of members to advisors is topping 100:1 - you might not have picked up on fiesta night as a problem (although I would have give the mustaches the side eye....)

Sounds like time for more PR and RM training.....

It also depends if the advisor is someone who's actually on campus, or someone who's actually Greek.

I honestly can say I don't think our advisors knew when we were having mixers, let alone what the themes were.