SMU Investigating Pike And AEPi After Their Joint Party Theme Is Deemed Racist

Bogey Wells10 years ago

I called it just a few days ago. Remember my prediction that Halloween costumes would screw a chapter into a hole even King Arthur couldn’t extract them from?

Four days from now, some poor fraternity chapter somewhere will find themselves under attack by an over-sensitive media horde. It happens every year around Halloween. There’s no getting around it.

So, I was off by a day, but my point still stands.

Southern Methodist University administrators are a tad bit pissed after they discovered the following promotional flyer floating around social media recently.

Note: The two Greek Rank images included in this tweet are not associated with the party in question, but rather with a separate incident at SMU.

Following the image was a description of the party which stated it was a joint party between SMU’s AEPi and Pike. The flyer instructed party goers to “bring out your bling, jerseys, and inner thug.” The university appears poised to bring down the hammer. Regardless of the fact that 100 percent of the party’s profits were to be donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Dallas, the backlash grew quickly, leading to the organizers to cancel it all soon after.

A spokesman from AEPi’s national office released the following statement following the cancellation of the “savage banger.”

From CBS DFW:

After discussion, our undergraduate brothers at SMU now understand that their social media post could have been perceived by some as offensive. At no time was there ever any intention to make anyone feel uncomfortable, unsafe or offended. Of course, as a fraternity dedicated to preserving the culture and traditions of the Jewish community, we understand discrimination and hatred and would never intentionally seek to insult any other campus group. As soon as we realized that our post caused harm to others, it was taken down and the event was canceled. College is a time of learning, and we ask our campus community to accept our apology and our heartfelt desire to learn from this experience to be more sensitive with our words and actions.

This was soon followed by a statement from the president of SMU.

Dear SMU community members:

I am deeply concerned about the recent actions of two campus fraternities in planning and promoting an off-campus party with racially offensive themes and images. This party was not sanctioned by SMU, and this incident is under review by the university.

Although the offensive party has been cancelled, and the inappropriate Facebook promotions have been removed, the key point is that SMU students should know better than to engage in such irresponsible and insensitive conduct. It is simply unacceptable for any campus group or individual to employ images and language that promote negative stereotypes and are demeaning to the dignity of any member of our campus community. If students choose to create themes based on their ideas of popular culture, they should be aware of the potential impact and always keep in mind respect for others.

As I’ve told you all many times before, it’s always best to refrain from being an idiot..

[via CBS DFW]