Campusland Snippet #7 - Trick or Treat

Halloween doesn't always go down so smoothly these days at Devon. The following is an excerpt from the Devon Daily...

Devon Daily - November 2nd

                            Costumes Spark Outrage

Thursday night’s Halloween revels were marred by several incidents surrounding the alleged insensitivity of some costumes, with one incident resulting in violence. Accusations ranged from racism and sexism to cultural appropriation.

One student, dressed as prominent transsexual Caitlyn Jenner, attended Wolcott House’s annual “Inferno” event, and was confronted by a number of other students from the Devon LGBT Coalition who were angry that the student in question was not, himself, LGBT, and was possibly making light of Jenner and transsexualism. The confrontation grew heated and drew the attention of some campus Democrats, also in attendance, who were offended over Jenner’s coming out as a Republican. This precipitated an angry exchange between the two groups, described by one observer as a “fight over who was more offended.” Sometime during the exchange, the student dressed as Jenner left the party without ever being identified.

Elsewhere, a party goer at the Beta Psi fraternity, dressed as the “Frito Bandito,” drew the ire of members of the Latino House. Seeing a post of the offending costume on the fraternity’s Instagram page, members of the Latino House demanded entry to the party to confront the offending cartoon bandit. When told they were not on the party’s list, a fight ensued, prompting an appearance by the Havenport police. No arrests were made.

“This is an outrage,” said Vincent Lopez, a member of the Latino House. “The Frito Bandito plays into the worst sort of Mexican stereotypes. And even if it didn’t, what right does this white person of privilege have to appropriate a Latino character?”

Beta Psi president Ted Hutchins stated, “It was a private party and besides, people should just lighten the f**k up.”

Asked to comment, Martika Malik-Adams, the Devon’s Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, stated she was “troubled,” and that her department was forming a committee to set costume guidelines going forward.