“I suspect that the protests were not about the Derby theme, but rather that the party attendees were wearing gowns and suits that evoked the popular image of plantation life, girls in hoop skirt gowns and men in their string ties and white suits”
This is a real thing, but it happens at colleges in the Deep South, never in NH. It’s primarily associated with chapters of the Kappa Alpha Order at SEC schools, and even that is dying out under pressure.
Oh, I’m not agitated - just commenting!
I think the thing is - this squanders the goodwill of those of us who would agree, completely, that a Confederate Ball or similar event is offensive. It becomes the boy who cried wolf.
The slightest amount of research reveals that the sorority sisters are FAR from a WASPy group.
^Predominantly A allows for a tiny minority of B.
"I don’t think you realize this -
When there are these “protests” over minor things where people are clearly looking to be offended, and people capitulate and don’t hold the events -
What you THINK you are getting is a victory - that these people have been shamed into “seeing the light” of their white privilege and yada yada.
What you are REALLY getting is a “oh god, these people are so tiresome, they will complain about anything and you just have to give in to them or they will make your life miserable.”
Is that really the victory you seek?"
This is really well said. I would like to put this on a poster, in my younger son’s room. Really!
Y’all do know KY was Union, right?
“This is Dartmouth, not Alabama here.” — Thank goodness!
Could we please stop with the Alabama bashing? It isn’t the topic of the thread, and it’s pretty hypocritical to criticize knee-jerk political correctness while, in the same breath, knee-jerk bashing a Southern school for its alleged backwardness.
Especially if you’ve never set foot on the campus.
Lucie–Pizza Girl make the Alabama statement. I meant to say that I was glad AL wasn’t involved in this stupid debate but it didn’t sound like it as I re-read it. Roll Tide!
Thanks for the clarification, @gouf78.
It is not a great secret that it’s a reasonable expectation that a sorority at Dartmouth (or MIT, or Cornell, or many other Northern elite schools) would be more racially diverse than a sorority at Alabama, where the presence of black girls causes the smelling salts to come out. For whatever reason, the stereotype of all-blonde-WASPs seems to dominate the discussion, and I haven’t a clue why, when there are tons of chapters that don’t fall into that category at all.
@Pizzagirl, give it a rest. Panhellenic sororities are hardly the only Greek organizations at Alabama. You betray your own elitist preferences by ignoring all the sororities that aren’t part of the NPC.
I’d be happy if the bashing of blonde WASPs would stop, too. It’s an accident of birth. Like white privilege.
Also, I believe in the existence of bubble headed blonde feminists. fwiw
And it burns my **** when people stereotype some of my southern sisters.
This is the post I was referring to:
“I didn’t see what the changes they made were, if all the party was was Woodstock themed instead of Derby themed, then I would think that the protesters hadn’t really done anything, but if the invite list broadened, if instead of let’s say a bunch of upper class, privileged white kids only being invited, they made it a point to go outside their usual circles then maybe something real happened there, who knows?”
This made the assumption that the sorority consisted only of upper-class privileged white kids. Consolation then pointed out that a simple Google search corroborated that this sorority was NOT just upper-class privileged white kids. I
agree with that. It would be a reasonable stereotype to hold if we were discussing Alabama or similar schools, where racial integration in sororities is still at an early stage as per the news stories of the past few years, and where websites / videos portray a lot of visual uniformity. It’s not a reasonable stereotype to hold when discussing Dartmouth or similar schools, where the presence of more diverse students in the Greek system doesn’t make anyone bat an eye. I don’t know why you’re so intent on pretending otherwise.
BTW, there’s nothing wrong with being upper-class, privileged, white or blonde, so I’m not “attacking” anyone who is.
It’s not knee-jerk Alabama bashing to note that the hoopskirt balls are alive and tolerated there and elsewhere in the state – albeit involving a narrow slice of the student body. It’s certainly relevant to a thread discussing the propriety of parties with Southern imagery.
Here is a video of the protest last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTeY8zXbhEw
Tiresome and miserable seems like good descriptions of the protesters.
What southern imagery? Take a look at the video. The clothes those kids are wearing at the party are more appropriate to the Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard than Alabama or Mississippi.
Two assumptions were made upthread by various posters, neither of which was correct:
The party was potentially offensive insofar as it featured hoop skirts and other depictions of Southern antebellum plantation culture (thus “celebrating slavery” or at least strongly reminiscent of a culture in which slavery was a good thing)
The girls throwing the party were all white / upper-class / privileged girls who wouldn’t dare be caught including anyone outside of that social circle.
These might have been reasonable assumptions to have made if we were talking about places in which
However, neither of those assumptions turned out to be correct, because:
Kentucky is the South, although it was a Union state. If you have a Kentucky Derby party, that’s a Southern theme with Southern visuals. That makes it important to distinguish such themes from one another.
There is a lot of overlap between Hamptons wear and preppy Southern style, especially Derby style. Lilly, Vineyard Vines, etc. have many devotees in both regions.
Not that this is the definitive source, but if you go to Pinterest and google Kentucky Derby, what do you get? Horses. Horseshoes. Horse racing. Big, fancy hats. The run-for-the-roses wreath. It’s clear that it’s merely a theme, that happened to have originated in Kentucky.
Now, still on Pinterest, google antebellum south. You’ll see a lot more things that are more clearly tied to slave culture, plantations,etc.
This is what I mean by squandering goodwill. If you want to say that an antebellum south / hoop skirt / plantation party is offensive, I can at least follow the logic link with you because it’s evident to see the ties back to slave ownership and how that might be hurtful to those who are descendants of the slaves upon which these plantations are built. Kentucky Derby? No. It really is a weak link of offensiveness, and it harkens back to “I’m just looking to be offended.”
I’d like to know if there were any facets to how this event was celebrated in the past that suggest some kind of connection to racism. If it’s just that it’s based on an event that occurs in the south, that’s pretty absurd. (Are they going to do away with Spring Break as well?)
What if they had changed the theme to “Downton Abbey?” Would there have been protests or not?