JHU Sigma Chi "Halloween in the Hood Party"

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

So the BSU should have certain authority to conduct investigations. They're just a student organization, or at least they should be.

Also, its college. You know, the place where you go to branch out, try new things, expand your whatever...blah blah blah. That is of course, so long as it doesn't ruffle anyone's feathers. I find it ironic that university paid professors can't say God doesn't exist and compare Bush to Hitler, but some racist/semi-racist/not at all racist/whatever kids shouldn't be allowed to have a theme party.

I think you meant to say....."I find it ironic that university paid professors can say......

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by centaur532

Well they didn't walk inside the house and decided an obvious pirate skeleton (from Pirates of the Caribbean, no less. It's an exact replica of the one from the film) was a reenactment of a lynching.

That much is obvious but what preceeded that, in your other post, isn't.

Originally Posted by centaur532

By the way, couldn't you have just copied and pasted all the quotes you're responding to in one big post?

Only if clicking "quote" as I read along wasn't quicker.

Originally Posted by centaur532

I didn't just read part of the story. I read the news story, then I read the response given by one of the founders of that chapter. I expressed my opinion based upon my knowledge, which, ultimately is what we are all doing, yourself included.

And therefore you assumed that the BSU went looking for something, as if their imagination told them there would be something to look for in the first place.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

So the BSU should have certain authority to conduct investigations.

The extent to which they conducted an actual "investigation" is questionable. "Investigation" in the sense of going to the event but not walking in and contacting officials and making sure their concerns are heard and acted upon? YES. Every campus organization (particularly those focusing on activism and being the voice of students) has the ability (authority isn't the correct term here) to do that if the university hasn't told them they can not.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by macallan25

I am sure that someone could be "offended" by just about everything we do...no matter how dumb or idiotic we may think it is for them to feel that way.

This is a typical response in an attempt to remove all sense of responsibility from people. Freedom of speech, along with all freedoms, is not unlimited.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

blah blah I'm a dirty liberal

Yeah, so your liberal brainwash is pretty funny. Could you use any more marxist language? Throw in the words "proleteriat" and "bourgeoisie" and you've got yourself The Communist Manifesto.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

This is a typical response in an attempt to remove all sense of responsibility from people. Freedom of speech, along with all freedoms, is not unlimited.

Oh chill out, seriously. If you think I was being completely serious in my response about staying in our fraternity houses......then you are taking all of this way too seriously.

The facebook invitation was overboard......obviously, and uncalled for......however.....the party itself wasn't that huge of a deal in my book. It was a themed party in which the BSU tried to find things that were "racist" that weren't actually there, i.e. the depiction of a lynching, etc.

[shinerbock]

DSTS, how is that taking responsibility away from people? Taking responsibility away from people is when you criminalize (or in this case, have the university take action) in order to prevent future events. If you really wanted to emphasize responsibility, you'd let these people generally do what they want, let them deal with the consequences, and leave it up to the offended party to make a decision on what to do/not do in response.

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The extent to which they conducted an actual "investigation" is questionable. "Investigation" in the sense of going to the event but not walking in and contacting officials and making sure their concerns are heard and acted upon? YES. Every campus organization (particularly those focusing on activism and being the voice of students) has the ability (authority isn't the correct term here) to do that if the university hasn't told them they can not.

It is for JHU and Sigma Chi IHQ to determine what is appropriate. The leaders of those two organizations have ownership of the reputation and well-being of all members- and they alone have the authority to investigate.

The BSU is certainly free to question JHU's handling of the situation, but they have no business getting directly involved with the affairs of any other student organization. And they have NO right to intrude on private property and question the legal behavior of any person. Period end of story.

Nice try of you to make note that campus organizations focused on activism and being the voice of students should have special privileges over other organizations.

Who gets to decide that? How is a student organization for blacks any more a voice for the student body at large than a single fraternity?

And what do you mean by activism? Do you mean activism on issues that suit you personally? Greeks are very activist by nature. We do philanthropy work. Alumni help students run chapters and provide an employment network for graduates. Alumni of GLOs also have much higher rates of donations to their alma maters than non-GLO members.

These guys at that chapter had every right to throw that party and do and say as they pleased as long as no laws were broken.

And with regards to the race issue- no laws were broken.

The consequences they face will be decided by Sigma Chi IHQ and JHU- as should be the case. After all, those are the two organizations under whom this particular chapter could exist.

Don't get me wrong, if my chapter ever did something like this I would be pissed- and I would bust their asses if they had made a public scene of it like these guys did.

But that does not change the fact that other student groups, the BSU in this instance, have no business dictating how some students conduct themselves within the confines of the law.

Most people are going to agree with you that this was a dumb thing to do. But good luck getting people to agree that you have a right to dictate how other people conduct their affairs- because you don't.

[Kevin]

It would be hilarious if Sigma Chi announced they were investigating the BSU's investigation.

It'd never happen, but hilarity would ensue.

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by Kevin

It would be hilarious if Sigma Chi announced they were investigating the BSU's investigation.

It'd never happen, but hilarity would ensue.

Haha, this was my first LOL of the day!

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by macallan25

The facebook invitation was overboard......obviously, and uncalled for......

Yep and without that the BSU wouldn't have had a reason to get started.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

The BSU is certainly free to question JHU's handling of the situation

Exactly.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

Yeah, so your liberal brainwash is pretty funny. Could you use any more marxist language? Throw in the words "proleteriat" and "bourgeoisie" and you've got yourself The Communist Manifesto.

I find it hard to believe you've read that book or any other book.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

DSTS, how is that taking responsibility away from people? Taking responsibility away from people is when you criminalize (or in this case, have the university take action) in order to prevent future events. If you really wanted to emphasize responsibility, you'd let these people generally do what they want, let them deal with the consequences, and leave it up to the offended party to make a decision on what to do/not do in response.

Isn't that what's going on here?

The University hasn't specified that themed parties aren't allowed or that certain themes are not permissable for everyone else, did they? So therefore the University is assuming that smart people can take a hint and will govern themselves accordingly in light of recent events. If they choose not to govern themselves accordingly, they will deal with the consequences and the offended party (for instance, the black students who the BSU is representing) will make a decision on what to do/not to do in response. So maybe Sigma Chi will get their status back and be able to hold parties again, JHU is probably putting things on hold for them so that this situation will die down.

The BSU didn't make any real decisions, they brought attention to something and semi-protested. I don't know what campus organizations you all are used to but the student-representative ones at the Universities I've attended have all been extremely proactive, reactive, and activist just like the BSU is in this instance. If the University has a problem with that, they will put the BSU in its place. Oh well.

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Isn't that what's going on here?

The University hasn't specified that themed parties aren't allowed or that certain themes are not permissable for everyone else, did they? So therefore the University is assuming that smart people can take a hint and will govern themselves accordingly in light of recent events. If they choose not to govern themselves accordingly, they will deal with the consequences and the offended party (for instance, the black students who the BSU is representing) will make a decision on what to do/not to do in response. So maybe Sigma Chi will get their status back and be able to hold parties again, JHU is probably putting things on hold for them so that this situation will die down.

The BSU didn't make any real decisions, they brought attention to something and semi-protested. I don't know what campus organizations you all are used to but the student-representative ones at the Universities I've attended have all been extremely proactive, reactive, and activist just like the BSU is in this instance. If the University has a problem with that, they will put the BSU in its place. Oh well.

I don't deny that you make good points, but hear me out. The invite was incredibly racist. However, Sigma Chi brothers saw it, deemed it highly inappropriate and asked that it be taken down. It was, then put back up. The BSU saw the invite and went over the party to see what was up. Fair enough, I would have done the same thing. They saw the skeleton and that was enough. They did not go into the party where they may or may not have found some hard evidence. Accusing the Sigma Chis of racism based upon a PotC skeleton and an invite the Sigma Chis themselves condemned is just out of hand. They don't have anything to go on other than the racist facebook invitation which Sigma Chi did not condone in any way, and a skeleton that was unrelated.
That's the problem here.