Students Object, The CFSC Rolls OverEditor's Note: Following are the texts of email messages that were sent to the Coed, Fraternity, Sorority Council. The text is printed verbatim; only formatting has been changed. Aaron Akamu is President of the Hokupa'a Hawaii Club at Dartmouth. Date: 12 Aug 1999 23:28:43 EDT Hello, It has come to our attention that Alpha Chi Alpha Fraternity is having a Luau party where people are encouraged to dress up like Hawaiians. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. FIRST THE GHETTO PARTY, THEN THE CUBAN PARTY AND NOW THIS!?!!!!! Perhaps the rest of the members of the CFSC will tolerate bigotry, however, we Los Hermanos Imprecendibles de La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity Incorporated will not be a part of any organization that does not reprimand its members who engage in RACISM. If the CFSC will not reprimand Alpha Chi and any other organization involved in this vile act of incivility and thus condone it (for any silence would be a shout of approval), then we will have no choice but to withdraw ourselves from your membership. The activities of Alpha Chi in this party are in every way antagonistic towards the core-founding principles of our organization on both the national and local levels. Thank you. Omar Rashid
Hi, As a Native Hawaiian, I am deeply offended and hurt when I heard of the party that is being planned for Friday Night at Alpha Chi. This is a very insensitive event, and to me a clear and blatant endorsement of stereotypes that continue to divide the community at Dartmouth. I would like to see all of your organizations to take action on this issue. These types of events that deal with real people and real identities in a demeaning way need to be stopped. Please feel free to contact me. Thanks, Aaron Date: 13 Aug 1999 05:02:52 EDT August 13, 1999 To the Dartmouth Community: Recently the members of AXA and DDD planned a joint social event incorporating Lu'au as a theme. It has come to our attention that this theme has offended members of the Dartmouth community. On behalf of AXA and DDD, we would like to apologize for any disrespect and harm our actions caused. As a first step, we would like to initiate a discussion in the community with the hope that change will take place. AXA and DDD, with the support of Hokupa'a (the Hawaii Club at Dartmouth), will host a forum about the misuse of culture and ethnicity on campus (date and location TBA).
(Bear with me, this is long but important. Open it wide....) We have a situation here. I have just spent the last 3 hours speaking to Aaron Akamu (my freshman year roommate) about his problems with the Lu'au Party that Alpha Chi and Tri Delt almost had. First, let's not argue about whether Hawaiians should be raising hell about this. The fact of the matter is they are upset at what almost happened, and we have to deal with it. As Aaron explained it to me, an actual Lu'au has important cultural implications to Hawaiian people which is why they are upset about the way the party was being planned. He also did not take kindly to the comments about Hawaii's status as a state, as there has been an ongoing controversy for years in Hawaii about the United States annexation of it. In addition to blitzing us, he has blitzed the administration and told them about what has happened. I felt my job over the last few hours was to see Aaron and try to make him realize that incidents like these are not solely Greek issues. Last year, the '01 class council tried to have a Lu'au party and Aaron came to the party and ripped down all the decorations and basically ended the event. I brought this up to remind him that the Greek system is not the reason that things like this occur. Aaron has a strong stance against 'privilege', and I was worried that he would try to use this event as a last stake against us as he views the Greek system as the primary privileged faction on campus. If I was successful in diverting him away from blaming the system, only time will tell as I watch his actions and comments over the next few days. Events like this stem from misunderstandings. I feel bad for whoever's names have been put out there as racists or whatever as we all know they are not. Fortunately, as soon as Eric and Alex realized what was happening, they canceled the party, scheduled a meeting with Aaron for tomorrow afternoon, and are in the midst of arranging a forum to discuss these issues. I also tried to point out to Aaron that this is the way things should be done. Once Alpha Chi and Tri Delt realized what the problem was and why, they took the concerns of the Hawaiian community to heart by canceling the party and discussion will ensue. Communication was the key. In the meantime, let me remind you that we have to be very careful in the next few months. When dealing with anything that might seem cultural, try and explore both sides of the issue. While personally I feel that Aaron and the Hawaiian community might be nit picking on this, I am not Hawaiian. Ask questions if need be. In short, realize that we have to try and imagine other perspectives and take them into consideration when planning theme parties. Over the next few days, people might be asking for comments, etc. Emphasize that Alpha Chi and Tri Delt (as well as the whole CFSC), through respect for and communication with the Hawaiian community at Dartmouth, are committed to working together to understand why they are upset and to engage in this coming forum so that something positive can come out of this. Also stress that this is not a Greek issue etc...... At this point, I do not know what else to say. As for Omar, I will deal with him. Don't send him any responses. Any questions or concerns, get in contact with me....
IMPORTANT: I'm sure many of you have been contacted by the Review (very quickly). DON'T RESPOND YET! We must be very careful what we say, especially since we can probably count on the Review to be pro-Greek and anti-Hawaiian on this one... And we don't exactly want anti-cultural comments in print again... SO, as a suggestion, please blitz the CFSC account FIRST with anything you're thinking of telling the Review and let us look it over first—this is for all of our protection. You can talk to them at any time—they can wait. This is a very touchy issue, and we don't want anyone to drop the ball. Thanks,
guys, This morning I talked to Deb Reinders, Dean Redman, and Dean Larimore this morning. Overall, we're looking decent at this point. They are glad that the situation was resolved as it was so quickly. However, the details of this unregistered party are now in the hands of these people and it looks bad. BE CAREFUL what you are sending out in blitzes. I can't emphasize this enough. On sunday night, we will be having an emergency meeting to decide how the CFSC as a whole is going to deal with the situation as far as a response to what happened and omar. Try and plan ahead, I will blitz out the specific details tomorrow.....
In the next blitz is a response to the Review that I wrote and JoJo approved. If you want to use it, leave mine and JoJo's names off of it, AND leave the CFSC out of it. The CFSC, as an organization, will not be making a public statement (and so, the CFSC will not be responding to the Review's questionaire). If you would like to respond to them as President and speaker of your respective House, we encourage you to use this as it captures the ideals of the CFSC (and hopefully of your House as well). We also encourage you to sign the bottom either from you or from your House, *but not from the CFSC.* Thanks,
Do you believe that the Lu'au was racist or offensive? What is your opinion, or the position of your organization, of the appropriateness of such an event. What, if anything, does it tell you about Dartmouth? -- Yes, it was offensive. A Lu'au is a religious ceremony, and the fact that organizations wished to use it as the theme of an alcoholic party is unacceptable. Would people attend an event which mocked Christian Eucharistic Communion? Also, a Lu'au has historical implications related to the United States' annexation of Hawaii, an act which many Hawaiians still disagree with (and understandably so). If this party were to happen, it would have made a mockery of both Hawaiian religion and history. The happenings of the last several hours tell me that there are still people who simply don't understand what it is to be 'cultural aware,' and this is something we look to remedy. Although, it also tells me that perhaps communication between groups on this campus has improved in the last several months, based on the fact that the people organizing the event were made aware of their distasteful move and were able to cancel the event before the event took place. If there can be something positive coming from this unfortunate string of events, let it begin with that. From there, the organizers, apologetic, are already in contact with a student leader from Hokupa`a (the Hawaii Club at Dartmouth), with the intent of creating an educational event which will discuss the misuse of culture and ethnicity at Dartmouth, and we applaud them for doing so. As mentioned above, many Greeks need to be made more aware of cultural diversity, and we hope that everyone can take something from this coming event. --- Do you think that Lambda Upsilon Lambda's call for disciplinary action against AXA was appropriate? What action, if any, should be taken by the CFSC? What should the College do? --- Yes it was completely appropriate and action will be taken. We do not, however, wish for Lambda Upsilon Lambda to withdraw from the CFSC, as they suggested they might. At this time, I cannot tell you what action the CFSC will take, as the CFSC hasn't yet met to discuss the issue. The CFSC will be meeting this weekend and will choose a course of action in the next few days. We hope that the recent events were simply a mistake on the part of the two organizations and that the cancellation of the party and the moves toward further education to prevent other offensive incidents of this sort from happening again will be seen as a beginning to a much-needed process of furthering the knowledge of cultural awareness to everyone. We hope that the College will recognize that the organizations at fault are pleased that the issue was brought to their attention before the event took place so they could cancel the event, that they have publicly admitted their fault, and that they are already trying to rectify the situation. --- Generally, what should be the response to offensive speech on campus? -— We as Dartmouth students are governed by a short paragraph which hangs in many buildings on campus, entitled "The Dartmouth College Principle of Community," which reads: "The life and work of a Dartmouth student should be based on integrity, responsibility and consideration. In all activities each student is expected to be sensitive to and respectful of the rights and interests of others and to be personally honest. He or she should be appreciative of the diversity of the community as providing an opportunity for learning and moral growth." The organizations at fault clearly did not act in accordance with this Principle, and therefore there is no question that they must and will be punished. I should tell you though that this statement was originally issued by the Office of Residential Life. Therefore, while the CFSC will undoubtedly deal with its members accordingly in this case (and in all cases like this), we expect that Dean Redman and Dean Larimore will also issue comments and may wish to heighten the punishment issued by the CFSC, and we support this possible intervention by the College. --- Do believe that AXA and DDD were right to apologize for the event? Will their "forum about the misuse of culture and ethnicity on campus" be beneficial to the College? --- Yes of course they were right to apologize, for they were at fault. While the comments and advertisements made over blitz were clearly offensive and not in accordance with "The Dartmouth College Principle of Community," we are pleased that the event will not happen and that further insult and confrontation could be avoided. We believe that said forum will be beneficial to all who participate. Because of this, we hope that all Greek Houses will jump at this opportunity to learn from the situation, as cultural sensitivity is admittedly one category that CFS members have traditionally been deficient in—we wholeheartedly wish to change this. --- What does this episode mean for the Greek system, and for Dartmouth as a whole? --- It is an unfortunate occurrence for the Greek system. Especially with many large decisions left to be made concerning the "Initiative," the Greek system was hoping to avoid any embarrassing incidents such as this. Affiliated students, like anyone else, do not wish to mock and insult other students—it is unfortunate that the students involved were not aware (perhaps due to a lack of cultural education) that their actions would be offensive to others. We condemn the actions, and praise the cancellation of the event and the pursuance of an educational discussion of culture and ethnicity—we believe that misunderstandings such as this will only cease with more education.
a number of you have blitzed back voicing disappointment with the response that etu just blitz out. Alot of you may disagree with what was said, but this much is true: We all must maintain the middle ground and not trivialize any of the complaints about the party. I would prefer that everyone stay quiet until we see how everything shakes out. Right now everyone knows too little to be making statements about anything. JoJo |
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