Penn State Chi O Under Investigation

[chi-o_cat]

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...

[AZTheta]

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

ETA: oh, nevermind.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by LatinaAlumna

Penn-dejas i

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Brilliant.

[lovespink88]

Originally Posted by LatinaAlumna

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

[33girl]

^^That bird? WANT.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by janssen2010

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

How do you grow humor?

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

How do you grow humor?

See below:

Originally Posted by janssen2010

Agreed plus forcing them to go co-ed defeats what the core of a fraternity or sorority is....i like that alumni are threatening with holding donations just hope there is enough money at stake that the school releases how ridiculous this idea is

Punctuation is not the only problem here. Oh my.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

See below:



Punctuation is not the only problem here. Oh my.

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

[SWTXBelle]

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.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

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.

[SWTXBelle]

True - although NOW it certainly will.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

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

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.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

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

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.

[HQWest]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

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.

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.....

[33girl]

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.