College Creates Safe Spaces After Students Become Outraged Over Tequila Themed Party

Alex Keating10 years ago

It’s that time of the week again — time to update our list of things that college students get offended by. This week’s additions: tequila and sombreros. The issue comes out of, yet again, another small liberal arts school, Bowdoin College in Maine. Gone are the days where one can wear an oversized Mexican hat while simultaneously drinking Mexican alcohol, for this, too, has been deemed outrageous and harmful by the social justice warrior population.

The incident, which took place at a tequila-themed party, has sent the campus into a panicked frenzy pretty much solely due to the fact that there was Mexican headgear being worn in conjunction with drinking Mexican alcohol. My God, what a traumatizing experience that must have been to witness. As one sophomore described it, “there have been three school-wide emails from deans and our president, and there have been multiple ‘safe-space’ opportunities on campus for students to discuss how they were hurt and offended by the party.” I can barely get three school-wide emails when there is an armed robbery on my campus and these saps get three just because of this? Due to the nature of this delicate situation, however, safe spaces and counseling services just weren’t enough for some of the harmed students, so they did what they do best: They wrote a list of demands, and oh are they golden.

From the National Review:

Recommend, that the administration should more immediately acknowledge incidents of this nature, and it must acknowledge not only their occurrence but also the deep hurt that students may be feeling immediately following such acts.

Further Recommend,

That the administration must make clear to students, well in advance, their commitment to creating a supportive space for students who have been or feel targeted, for as long as students deem necessary.

Further Recommend,

That the administration must create a separate space open to other students for discussion, support, and processing of the incident.

Further Recommend,

That the Office of Academic Affairs mandate an academic or experience in the classroom for those involved in such incidents.

Further Recommend,

That the College develop processes for punitive measures to be undertaken against those involved in such incidents.

Further Recommend,

That the College remain cognizant of the time and academics of students of color following such incidents and take appropriate measures to ensure their academic, mental, and social wellbeing.

What I take away from these demands is that not only do the students want the school to instantly acknowledge when tequila parties occur, they want to incorporate these parties into their class discussions, they want their own special spaces where they can all sit together and grieve over having to see someone in a funny hat, and they want their school to pay special attention to “students of color” after these events do occur. It appears as though race wasn’t even an issue in this instance, which means they just chose to throw that one in there because, after all, why the hell not?.

[via National Review]

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