BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- Ingrid Nelson, a sociology professor at Bowdoin College, argues higher education institutions, including Bowdoin, are failing to adequately educate students about the inappropriateness of 'racist' costume parties, citing past incidents like a Thanksgiving-themed party where attendees dressed as Pilgrims and Native Americans.
- Many students remain unaware or dismissive of why such costume parties are offensive, indicating a lack of comprehensive education on the subject, which leads to ongoing insensitive behaviors at events, like a tequila-themed party featuring sombreros.
- Nelson criticizes elite colleges for managing their public relations regarding racism rather than addressing the deeper issues, suggesting that minority students should not be relied upon to educate others about these problems without institutional support.
A sociology professor at the just-under-$100k-per year Bowdoin College claims universities still are not doing enough to educate students about the inappropriateness of “racist” costume parties.
In The Conversation, Ingrid Nelson has to go back over a decade — when members of her school’s lacrosse team were disciplined for hosting an annual (off-campus) party for which they “urged students to ‘wear your finest Thanksgiving attire.’”
This meant dressing up as Pilgrims and Native Americans, which about 14 students did. These individuals subsequently were punished for “conduct unbecoming of Bowdoin students.”
Bowdoin Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster had said “For some, wearing a headdress and ‘war paint’ on one’s face and bare chest is just harmless fun. For others, it is cultural appropriation that demonstrates poor judgment and insensitivity.”
Nelson says some attendees of that party told her “they did not understand why others might find the theme offensive” as “many had dressed as Native Americans as children.” One student said he dressed as a Native American “because it was way cheaper and I didn’t have to wear a shirt.”
What’s more, Nelson says since Bowdoin chose only to discipline some students, it sent a message that “racism as a problem affecting individual students, not a broader issue.”
At similar shindigs at other universities, the sociologist who “explores the interconnected roles of cultural and social capital across a range of overlapping in and out of school contexts to illuminate how dynamic social institutions […] reinforce and disrupt processes of social reproduction” says some students “didn’t understand why the parties could be seen as offensive,” while others “just didn’t care.”
Nelson (pictured) notes that following the Bowdoin Thanksgiving party, some who were there then attended an “educational session” with a Native American student group to understand “why their costumes were hurtful.”
However, partygoers who skipped the session said they “remained confused, resentful or oblivious to the harm caused.”
Apparently this attitude still prevailed two years later at a Bowdoin “tequila-themed” campus party “that featured sombreros.” Nelson says opinions among the student body were all over the place on the matter, with some undergrads threatening to get lawyers to fight possible discipline by Bowdoin.
MORE: Bowdoin accused of choosing ‘amazing food’ over accepting low-income students
Nelson continues:
What’s striking about these parties is not that they kept happening – they have been happening for generations, and not just at Bowdoin – but what has happened in the decade since they caught the public eye.
My research suggests that Bowdoin, and elite colleges like it, can treat racism like blight carried by a few bad individuals rather than a condition baked into the institutions themselves.
I believe this is important, because higher education cannot build trust among all students without acknowledging hard truths that may not even be obvious to leaders.
Nelson concludes by lamenting too many colleges address incidents like the lacrosse party by enlisting minority students to hopefully “fix white ignorance for free.” However, affluent (white) students can use “their social and economic capital to shield themselves from consequences.”
“That’s not a system designed to address racism,” Nelson says. “That’s a system designed to manage public relations while preserving the status quo.”
Ironically, the (black) executive director of a civil rights group had ripped Dean Foster regarding Bowdoin’s actions against students at the Thanksgiving party, writing “I must say—from the perspective of civil rights, due process, and free speech and association, that your position is absurd—and your threat to punish ‘offensive’ students outrageous and idiotic.”
“Who gave you the right to be the arbiter of good taste?” Michael Meyers asked in his letter to Foster. “To censor ideas? Who gave you the right to punish differences of viewpoint? Who appointed you as the arbiter of acceptable and unacceptable dress at an off-campus party, to which you weren’t either a participant or an invitee?”
MORE: Bowdoin College exhibits nude photos of female students, for ‘empowerment’
