Students at Michigan State University are getting an education in how they can avoid offending people with culturally inappropriate Halloween costumes in what’s becoming a new tradition that undermines the university’s own identity.
The unsolicited advice on what to wear on fright night appeared on message boards in campus residences this week to help students answer the question “Is your Halloween costume racist?” according to The Morning Watch, the school’s conservative news site.
What’s become an annual reminder from MSU’s Residence Education and Housing Services spells out the difference between “cultural appropriation vs. appreciation.” When students are selecting a Halloween costume, REHS wants them to ask themselves, “do you belong to that group of people?”
If the answer is “no,” then it’s racist, according to MSU officials.
It doesn’t matter if the get-up is humorous or sexy, because it’s offensive to use “those peoples’ human elements … for the sake of bringing us laughter or making us feel more exotic,” REHS advises. – READ MORE