Unfortunately, members of UCLA’s Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority must have slept through that particular class. What they lack in cultural sensitivity, these Greek-life devotees make up for in party planning.
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The UCLA student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, reported that partygoers in the so-called “Kanye Western” event came dressed in baggy clothes and gold chains and padded their trousers to caricature large buttocks.
Photographs of the party and costumes surfaced on social media, prompting a resurgence of the hashtag #BlackBruinsMatter.
Within minutes of the start of Thursday’s rally, members of the Afrikan Student Union chanted and marched up Bruin Walk, gathering over a hundred followers before stopping to speak in front of Kerckhoff Hall.
“While we do not yet have all the facts, the alleged behavior is inconsistent with good judgment as well as our principles of community”, UCLA said in a statement.
“The national office of Sigma Phi Epsilon is investigating claims that its UCLA chapter hosted an inappropriately themed social event with Alpha Phi Sorority”.
The school has already implicitly sided with the protesters, releasing a statement saying that while it’s investigating, students shouldn’t celebrate pop culture in ways that “can cause harm and pain” to others in the community, the Times said.
“Put simply, just because you can do something does not mean you should”, it says in a statement.
There has been no comment yet from the presidents or individual members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Phi UCLA chapters. The protest was scheduled for noon at the Bruin Bear.
“It’s one thing to suggest you are actually focusing on one celebrity who is African American, it’s another thing to take it as a license to perform every attribute, every stereotype, every grotesque minstrelsy that you see”, Jerry Kang, vice chancellor for UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, said during Thursday’s protest.
Kanye West is a famous musician whose work is enjoyed by many, but that doesn’t necessarily license mostly-white fraternities to throw Kanye West-themed parties.
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Check out images of the “Kanye Western” participants in the gallery below.
