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adduncan,
The fraternity in question threw a "Gin and Juice" party which was said to "idolize rap music and popular culture icons."
The first concern, I believe, is to recognize that the fraternity was parodying urban, and therefore African American culture. Sure, parody is protected under the constitution, fine. But this chapter, which I am assuming is mostly white, should examine the series of choices that lead up to the chapter agreeing that it was okay to parody African American culture.
The problem with the watermelon comes into play because it was used in a way that implied that watermelons were an important part of black culture, when in fact, the watermelon-eating African American icon is a symbol that was used to denigrate and subjugate black people.
It's not that watermelons are offensive....the association of watermelons with exclusively African Americans is a problem. And if the person was wearing a watermelon on his t-shirt at a party that was meant to parody African American culture, then that's a problem.
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