Everyone take note: Throwing parties that play up offensive stereotypes is never going to work.
Members of a University of Michigan fraternity are learning this lesson as they face backlash for planning a "World Star Hip Hop Presents: Hood Ratchet Thursday" bash. Theta Xi Fraternity advertised the party on Facebook with a picture of a black man holding cash saying, "We goin back to da hood again!!" and "Hood IDs will be checked," the Daily Mail reports. The invites also requested the presence of "bad b…s, white girls, basketball players, thugs and gangsters" at the Nov. 7 party. The university canceled the event after offended students complained.
The frat apologized on Friday for the party advertisements, according to the Detroit Free Press. "I would like to apologize to all of the members of our student body, including those of all ethnicities, and to all women, for our extraordinary lack of consideration, and lapse in judgment," Eric Quang, president of the Michigan chapter of the frat, wrote.
The university sent out an email Thursday morning saying that the fraternity would be sanctioned, the Mail reports. The fraternity's national headquarters also placed social restrictions on the Greek organization while an investigation is conducted.
"The language of the invitation and theme of the party denigrated all women and African American/black identified people through racial stereotypes and cultural appropriation," the school's vice president for student affairs, E. Royster Harper, said in an email as reported by the Mail. "This behavior is offensive, disrespectful and unacceptable at the University of Michigan. It is unhealthy and harms everyone in the community. It is in direct contradiction to the values, policies and expectations of the University and will not be tolerated."
Read more at the Detroit Free Press and the Daily Mail.