Associated Student Government, the Coalition of Colors and Student Affairs will host a forum Thursday to discuss a Halloween incident involving the use of blackface, Northwestern President Morton O. Schapiro announced in an e-mail to the NU community Tuesday.
In photos found on Facebook and circulated in e-mails to student group leaders, two males are pictured in blackface. One male is pictured in front of a poster of the late musician Bob Marley, and is dressed in a shirt with the word “Jamaica” on it. The other is dressed as a woman and is holding a tennis racket in front of a wall with a Northwestern logo.
The students believed to be involved in the incident are student-athletes. One student believed to be involved declined to comment on whether he was dressed in blackface and said Tuesday he is “staying out of it completely as of right now.”
“While I fully support the principles of free expression, at the same time I am deeply disappointed to see any example of insensitivity that demeans a segment of our community,” Schapiro wrote in the e-mail. “It is my hope that we can use this incident as a catalyst to reflect upon the values of inclusiveness and respect for others that are central to Northwestern’s mission.”
Marcus Shepard, an intern in African American Student Affairs, said he found photos of the students on Facebook on Sunday morning. He said the students had been tagged in another student’s photo album, but said the photos have since been removed.
“I know people who’ve dressed up as African Americans before, and they haven’t felt the need to paint their skin,” said Shepard, a Communication junior and member of For Members Only. “I was kind of taken aback by the whole situation.”
ASG President Mike McGee said though certain groups are organizing the Thursday forum, nearly all of campus is involved in the event. The forum is meant to voice opinions from all sides of the issue, he said.
“(Race) is a tough issue,” the Communication senior said. “If there was an answer, we wouldn’t have the problems we’re having now.”
Another incident involving the use of blackface occurred in 2007. According to DAILY archives, two NU Ph.D. students dressed in blackface for a Halloween party.
“What it shows is that we haven’t done as good of a job of addressing our history of racial conflict,” McGee said. “A lot of students just don’t know what’s gone on on our campus.”
Northwestern Community Development Corps Co-Chair Kristen Cragwall, along with fellow co-chair Sharanya Jaidev, wrote a Letter to the Editor published in Tuesday’s DAILY about the blackface incident. Cragwall said her initial reaction was shock.
“I don’t think this is a minority group issue on campus,” said Cragwall, a Communication senior. “This is something that affects everyone. This needs to be a broader Northwestern community issue.”
Interim Dean of Students Burgie Howard said campus reaction to the incident has been “swift” and people are “interested and concerned.” He said that he didn’t think any University rules were violated, so it is not necessarily a “disciplinary situation.”
“Hopefully we can learn from this incident and other incidents to say, ‘How do we make sure our community is aware of these things so that we don’t have incidents going forward?'” he said.
Both Howard and Schapiro said they will be at Thursday’s forum.
Even if no disciplinary action is taken against the students, McGee said what they did affects all of NU.
“We are one community,” he said. “All of our actions, whether they’re positive or negative, reflect the Northwestern community.”Christina Salter contributed [email protected]
