Holidays and Seasons, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Minority Issues, Racism

Law School Asks That Students Not Be Racist Idiots This Halloween

Law students can get carried away with racially insensitive costumes.

By  
on

Happy Halloween! When we were younger, this holiday was about going trick or treating in relatively innocent-looking costumes to collect as much candy as possible. When we started getting older, the costumes grew up too, and our sense of decorum was thrown out the window.

Women now have the option of dressing as sexy professionals, sexy nursery-rhyme characters, sexy vampires, sexy witches, and this season, even sexy Ebola nurses. Men’s costumes usually run the gamut of witty to incredibly offensive — racially and otherwise — but sometimes women drop the slutty schtick to get in on the “fun.”

Believe it or not, even law students can get carried away with racially insensitive costumes. We bet some clueless white law school couple is totally excited about dressing in blackface as Ray Rice and Janay Rice with a bruised eye. You’re so funny and cool! Everyone wants to give your their outlines now! Yay!

One law school is here to remind you not to dress up like complete morons this Halloween…

Apparently being P.C. is all the rage in North Carolina, where several UNC Law deans teamed up to to encourage students not to act like racially insensitive pricks when making their costume selections this year. Here’s part of the email that was sent out to students (you can read the full email on the next page):

With Halloween later this week, we wanted to remind you to be thoughtful and respectful when celebrating. In particular, please keep in mind that certain Halloween costumes inappropriately perpetuate racial, cultural, and gender stereotypes. Although it may not be the intent, these costumes, and choosing to wear them, can depict identities in ways that are offensive or hurtful to others.

In an effort to remind students about the impact of their actions on others, and with the law school’s support, the SBA Multicultural and Diversity Committee posted several flyers around the school earlier this week (for example: http://ow.ly/i/7nMHC). Some of these flyers have been removed or covered by posters that mock the message. This behavior is unprofessional and unacceptable at the law school and in the profession. Most disturbingly, it is creating an environment of exclusion for students, faculty, and staff.

Sponsored

These are some of the flyers that the deans claim were removed, covered up, and mocked:

Here’s what one tipster had to say about the school’s response to the alleged poster scandal: “Political correctness run amok?” Another tipster said she saw the original signs around the school and thought to herself, “Wow, people really need to get a sense of humor.” Yet another tipster told us that he hadn’t seen any of the signs that covered up and mocked the school’s message of respect and inclusion, and that he doubted such a thing had actually happened. So what’s UNC Law going to do about it?

The administration has decided to call the UNC Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office to come up with a plan. One of our tipsters said this was a “ridiculous overreaction” on the law school’s part.

But is it really so ridiculous for a law school to try to encourage professionalism in the future lawyers of America? Probably not. Law students have shown poor judgment in the past about costumes. Would you want to hire a lawyer who once thought it would be an appropriate and amazing choice to wear blackface to a party? You’d only do that if you like tossing your hard-earned money at idiots.

Please try not to be a douche this Halloween — but if you’re going to be, make sure you do it like this:

Sponsored

(Flip to the next page to see the full message from Deans Rollins, Kasprzak, and Novinsky of UNC Law.)

1 2Next »

Topics

, , , , , , , , , , , ,