“Let us be clear, events like these have no place in the Cal Poly community and are not reflective of the principles of The Mustang Way,” Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong and Vice President of Student Affairs Keith Humphrey wrote in an email to campus Tuesday.
Sean McMinn
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Update 6:10 p.m.
At least three social fraternities and sororities are under investigation by the Office of the Cal Poly Dean of Students for a colonial and Native American-themed party held near campus this past weekend, opening the door for university charges of harassment and intimidation, Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey said Tuesday.
Humphrey declined in an interview to reveal the names of the organizations under investigation until groups face disciplinary action, citing a decision he and University President Jeffrey Armstrong made Tuesday regarding the open investigation. The vice president also said he expects organizations will be added to the list of those under investigation as it continues.
There is no timeline for how long the investigation will take to finish, Humphrey said, because it is, “more complex” than previous investigations into greek life.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it takes a little bit longer than the community’s used to,” he said.
Based on initial reports from neighbors near the party, which Humphrey said was in the area behind the Cal Poly Health Center, approximately 75 to 100 students wore “offensive” costumes. Those neighbors complained to the Cal Poly Dean of Students, telling Cal Poly officials the men were dressed in colonial attire and women came as “sexually explicit” Native Americans.
A group of Native American faculty also came to student affairs officials Monday and complained about the party, Humphrey said.
In an email to campus Monday, Humphrey and Armstrong decried the party, saying there is no place for events like it in the Cal Poly community.
“It’s very serious,” Humphrey said. “I think its effects on our community are things we can’t even fully put our arms around, and that’s what makes it very disturbing. And we don’t know who something like this will offend, and they’ll choose to never come to Cal Poly, choose to not send their children to Cal Poly.”
Fraternities and sororities will be required to register all parties with the university beginning next quarter as part of an agreement earlier this year to loosen recruitment restrictions in exchange for tighter oversight of greek functions.
Humphrey said there is no pressure to speed up that process after this past weekend’s incident, but added that a party registration system could have prevented it from happening.
Original Post
In an email to campus Tuesday, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong denounced a greek social event this past weekend as, “offensive to Native Americans and women in the party’s theme and suggested costumes.”
“Let us be clear, events like these have no place in the Cal Poly community and are not reflective of the principles of The Mustang Way,” Armstrong and Vice President of Student Affairs Keith Humphrey wrote. “Obviously, this was not a university-sponsored event.”
The Office of the Dean of Students, which took over managing greek life this academic year, will investigate the party, according to the email.
Cal Poly will also hold a forum Friday to discuss the impact of similar events in the community.
This post will be updated as more information becomes available.
This party may have been distasteful and (in retrospect for the hosts) inappropriate, but “investigation by the university” is silly and a wheel-spinning process. This event falls under Free Speech and Free Expression. Free Speech and Free Expression do not go out the window when someone is “offended.” When I see people desecrating (burning, stepping on, defacing, etcetera) the United States Flag I am offended and angry, but as decided by the Supreme Court this is Constitutionally protected Free Speech and Free Expression. Being “politically correct” and restraining or punishing as a result serves no constructive purpose for society. The best way to get people to stop putting on these events is for potential attendees to decide that (as with most changes society undergoes as it evolves) they no longer want to participate (through peer pressure…action in numbers by the people who actually participate). Action by the university is inappropriate, a broad overreach, and potentially will infringe upon student rights.
Going after this kind of stuff is nothing new in a national context, but it is disappointing that Cal Poly is now stepping into this arena.
[Now, if this is a violation of the “new rules” imposed by the university on Greek Chapters–that the chapters agreed to–the tune may change a bit]
That last bit you added in seems to be the case, although I wouldn’t be surprised if “Don’t have racist parties” is an old rule…
The point is how badly it reflects on the university. It’s pretty common knowledge that diversity and cultural awareness aren’t a couple of Cal Poly’s strongest assets; we don’t need things like this making us look even worse from that perspective.
I think the fact all of this is plastered over mustang news makes it much worse. A very small portion of people would have known about this party but now the admins decided it would be a great idea for everyone in the whole school to know making this a much bigger deal than it needs to be
“It’s disappointing to see a university discourage people from doing and saying really offensive things.”
No one is claiming this is a violation of US law. This is a University code of conduct violation, which the University is free to enforce. Since the Greek system is overseen by the University, it falls under this realm of enforcement.
Sooo is the issue that the girls were dressed sexually explicitly on halloween or that they were dressed as native americans? Because the former is nothing new and if it’s the latter, does that mean first grade plays of Thanksgiving scenes are offensive now, too?
You know what? As a descendant of colonists I find this offensive as well. Add my name to the list of complainers. I take this sort of thing very seriously.
You clearly have no concept of the issue. This event took place this PAST weekend, not on Halloween. Furthermore, the issue is the objectification of Women and people of color–something you are clearly ignorant about. This theme highlights the number of American Indians who were RAPED and MURDERED by white colonists. And let’s be honest, misogyny is nothing new to these Campuses frat members. When pledges can’t walk through the front door without having a girl on their arm, when women are treated like sex objects in the frat, when women are SEXUALLY ASSAULTED in your frats–yeah, there is a problem. Please do try and explain how “Great” it is to be in a frat. I bet your “teamwork” really comes in handy when you are drugging Cal Poly women.
If you are doing college right, EVERY weekend is HALLOWEEN. Also, I want to commend you on your great use of CAPS LOCK for emphasis.
It seems like ^^^somebody^^^ has the wrong impression of Cal Poly Greek life.
The party wasn’t “Take All The Land White Bros and Rape Bait Indian Hoes,” as you seem to have the impression it was, based on the tone of your comment.
If spelled properly, the Party name would really be “Navajos and Pilgrim Bros.” That seems strikingly less offensive, now doesn’t it?
Would it still be completely offensive and absolutely unacceptable at our institution if it was just a “Thanksgiving Party” yet everyone dressed in the same scant Native American costumes?
I think a lot of people get the wrong impression from the party “themes.” They are meant to be clever, and they usually rhyme. Nobody at any themed party is aiming to disrespect the people they are modeling themselves after. They shouldn’t be taken out of context to mean that everybody in attendance is going to the party to speak out against Native American, women or minority rights.
You have no concept of the issue either. This has nothing to do with the objectification of women. Women are objectified in our culture but this party has nothing to do with that. Girls wore less clothing because they wanted to. Guys probably showed up with no shirts but are they being objectified too? People wear less clothes to these kind of events to show off their body. The only problem with the party is the stereotypical portrayal of the native americans. But you do a great job on demonstrating the kind of fanatical feminist raving that makes me feel ashamed of being a humanities major. Your stereotypical rant about frats drugging and raping women is honestly offensive and shows your own prejudice and ignorance when it comes to greek life.
Sean McMinn is a Geed.
http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/
Just another example of Cal Poly using whatever means necessary to crack down on Greek life. The question that remains is how much longer will the Greek system tolerate such acts before deciding to completely disaffiliate from IFC and the school? Cal Poly only provides a limited number of benefits, which are, as demonstrated, wildly outweighed by the negatives.
I’m not a greek life member, but if I was I’d have my family’s legal team all over Cal Poly right now. I find it completely unfair how Cal Poly seems to over look everyone else’s acts but the moment Greek Life does something little, Cal Poly blows it up. Cal Poly literally has no grounds in this situation, unless as pointed out by “Birdman” it was a violation of the “New Rules.” Honestly, if any of these fraternities were to get punished for these parities I’d completely recommend retaliating through legal measures.
Your “Family’s legal team.” Look out everybody, we’ve got a Kardashian.
I’m not sure if it is your understanding of the law or the fact that you have a “family legal team” that should wave red flags first. It would appear that you and your kin have been on the wrong side of the law so many times that you find a need to get a frequent defendant punch card.
Cal Poly and the administration is perfectly justified in punishing those individuals or the entire chapter because they have entered into a contract of sorts with the university, that means they are officially and legally representatives of Cal Poly whether they are on campus or not, and are expected to act as such. If it were just individuals as you had pointed out, Cal Poly would have indeed over looked their actions not out of apathy but because they have no legal right to reprimand individual students for what they do on their time outside of campus, given it is not spent trying to breach any agreements individual students have with Cal Poly.
The minute an organization under agreement to uphold certain academic, community, and behavioral standards takes charge and decides to slap its name on an event that exploits racism and promiscuity (not just in the implied meaning or the outcome of the party, but in the name of the party mind you) they are subject to the appropriate consequences.
It’s pretty clear here, this sort of thing happens all the time in the greek system, but this was just one of the dozens of times a quarter that it was reported. Admin has every right to do what they are doing, but the question is will they actually stick to their guns and do something that can change Cal Poly for the better.
Darn I guess both my parents are corrupt lawyers that go around and sue innocent citizens. Shame on my family for putting money before morals. hahahahahaha not…
Several problems with your response.
a) I’m curious as to what part of my response made you think I was implying any sort of corruption, I think I presented a fairly logical explanation of the rights of our university and administration.
b) No one is talking about filing suit against any individual or organization here, merely using the university’s resources to investigate and deliver appropriate consequences. And their so called innocence has yet to be decided, it is unfair to victimize them while making Cal Poly seem like a bully when no clear “them” has even been determined yet.
c) If there were legal consequences outside of the university, which there most likely will not be, they still would not be against “citizens” (as I made clear that Cal Poly has no reign over any individual student outside of campus property), it would be against the organization as a whole.
d) There was no joke made, you laugh too much.
Someone’s taking this a little to serious….
https://mustangnews.net/fire-criticizes-cal-poly-investigation-into-native-american-themed-party/
GO SUCK A FAT ONE….Court settles Everything
Greek life is overseen by the University – almost all sororities and fraternities are officially affiliated with the University. Cal Poly is well within its rights to investigate the behavior of those chapters.
https://mustangnews.net/fire-criticizes-cal-poly-investigation-into-native-american-themed-party/
GO SUCK A FAT ONE….
I love this. Just another perfect example of how terrible the administration and the school are. I actually went to CP and just left because I was a minority and faced racial prejudice and how terrible the admin was (homegirl DeCosta, I’m talking to you!). I didn’t leave because I couldn’t handle it; I left because I didn’t want to be in a such negative place for my undergraduate education. Sure, students here are the front line showcase of how ignorant the students are, who set a representation of CP, but the school doesn’t do anything to change that and educate its students. Yes, having a single multicultural center and a separate WOW week for minorities is REALLY helping the diversity issue. The school is constantly tying to recruit more minority students, but you know why it’s not successful? Because of these situations and the ignorance of the CP community. Until people are educated enough, nothing is going to change. CP is stuck in a rut–everyone wants to say they’re accepting, understanding, and open-minded but everyone is just basically so close-minded and extremely unaware of the world outside of the small little 80% white town of SLO. Why isn’t this story on national headline news? Why aren’t the frats’ names revealed? CP, stop trying to cover up stories. You’re an awful, corrupt school deep inside and no matter what your PR team does, the truth has started to come out & it will not stop. I am so, so happy I left this school. I’m slightly disappointed since I had high hopes of this place, but coming from a city where I was never treated like a minority to this hostile community–it was awful. It was the most miserable time of my life and I do not wish this school upon anyone.
And please, please don’t justify yourselves by trying to say how your one minority friend likes SLO and has never personally felt prejudice or not. Your one single minority friend shouldn’t be your only source of information. Believe it or not, CP has a HUGE diversity issue… one that comes straight from the current students and the admins.
Oh, by the way–LOVE how the school is using excuses to say “it’s hard to determine a consequence”. YES hosting a conference that is voluntary is really going to solve the issue… Ironically enough, Chumash is Native American…
I think they know that last bit… Clearly you’re happier away from Cal Poly. You don’t need to involve yourself with their issues to legitimize your decision to leave.
I’m confident I’ve seen your rants elsewhere. I won’t pretend to understand your experiences, but there are better ways to make a difference than to actively try to tarnish the school’s reputation and discourage people from going here.
If someone doesn’t want to go to a school that has a problem with its Greek life, I would absolutely discourage someone from going to Cal Poly.
It’s been like two days. Give it some time. They haven’t blamed any specific organization because they don’t know who to blame yet. Now, if this story just disappears (which it won’t), then your point of view might make more sense.
I’m curious about what sort of evidence the guys in the comments have for claiming that Cal Poly admins have something against fraternities? What do the admins gain for hurting greek life? Maybe the admins really just don’t like dealing with the drama that comes with fraternities?
Being in the greek system actually has not been that bad at Cal Poly until this quarter. 2 organizations just got put on social probation, one of them for having a party of “approximately a dozen people”, 3 more are under investigation and the article says more are to come, and i know at least of 1 other that is now canceling social events due investigation. I don’t know why the admins are doing this specifically, could be that greek life overall has a negative stereotype and adds more liability to the school, we can only guess. But i have met with Humphry and Decosta the two people that deal with greek life most and i can tell you they both despise greek life.
lol typical Sean reporting a story as fact when the investigations are still ongoing.
I think many of the people posting comments have lost sight of the larger issue. The big issue is not whether the administration has a right to enforce certain standards of conduct and community on Greek organizations. As correctly noted by one commenter, that is a legal, contractual question that the organization can contest in court if they wish, though the nature of their contract with the university almost certainly gives the university authority in such situations.
The bigger question is how Cal Poly students want to treat each other, on campus and off campus. Indeed, it will be important to determine what the actual party theme was, as well as the actions associated with that theme at the party. However, whether or not the party organizers intended harm is largely irrelevant. If the theme is what is alleged and they had thought about it for even 5 seconds, they would have realized that such a theme would be insulting and horribly disrespectful to broad segments of the Cal Poly community and the broader society. What happened to the Mustang Way!!!
It should be unnecessary for the administration to take action because the leaders of the Greek community should have already taken action. By not doing so, they are complicit with the organizers and attendees at the party. Again, assuming that the description of the theme and the party are accurate, which the investigation will determine, I am appalled because this is wrong on so many dimensions.
It seems that people are confusing what is legal or what is illegal
with what is just. This isn’t about what one person or group may think that
they have the “right” to do, but rather if it is morally sound. I have never
been more ashamed to be part of this school. Students here should be protected
physically, mentally, and emotionally and carry the fear of their culture or livelihood
to be misrepresented or maltreated. It
is FIRST and FORMOST a place of LEARNING, not someplace that a misguided, sanctimonious
person can abuse other cultures for their own amusement. If you cannot identify
that this is wrong, you are the problem. You cannot eroticize cultures or
encourage the demoralization of women and claim that it is inline ‘freedom of
speech’! It is not for you, the attacker, to decide what it is that defines the
abused. The freedom of speech is there to protect the people, not allow for
those with an inflated sense of self-worth to slip by rightful accusation. You
are adults now, start behaving like them. This party may not have had a
malicious intent, but it has surfaced a larger problem that has for too long
been overlooked.
It seems that people are confusing what is legal or what is illegal
with what is just. This isn’t about what one person or group may think that
they have the “right” to do, but rather if it is morally sound. I have never
been more ashamed to be part of this school. Students here should be protected
physically, mentally, and emotionally and not carry the fear of their culture or livelihood
to be misrepresented or maltreated. It
is FIRST and FORMOST a place of LEARNING, not someplace that a misguided, sanctimonious
person can abuse other cultures for their own amusement. If you cannot identify
that this is wrong, you are the problem. You cannot eroticize cultures or
encourage the demoralization of women and claim that it is inline ‘freedom of
speech’! It is not for you, the attacker, to decide what it is that defines the
abused. The freedom of speech is there to protect the people, not allow for
those with an inflated sense of self-worth to slip by rightful accusation. You
are adults now, start behaving like them. This party may not have had a
malicious intent, but it has surfaced a larger problem that has for too long
been overlooked.
Joe Cohn agrees this is ENTIRELY UNCONSITUTIONAL, I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG. Suck it.
Despite the comments flying back and forth, it’s impossible for people to understand the impact of their actions if they are unaware of their political or cultural meaning. Many girls watched Pocohauntas, dressed up as her for Halloween, and accessorized with commercialized cultural symbols ignorant to our participation in perpetuating a stereotype. How can we be aware of this injustice when children are denied the ugly truth about US history? Therefore, the true lesson behind this example of cultural ignorance is the need for cultural awareness. Universities, such as Cal Poly, should require ethnic studies classes to reveal how our education and upbringing has placed a veil over our eyes that has prevented us from recognizing the profound impacts of our actions. Fraternities and Sororities are not the only social groups guilty of this; however, ignorance is not an excuse for their actions (especially for a group of “educated” young adults). Slapping their wrists and making them report party themes is a bandaid to a larger issue that will not be stopped until cultural ignorance is revealed. Instead of the Dean acting as a disappointed parent shaking his finger, he should require the participants to take a class on Native American History. Education is the answer.