Law School Party Causes Stir Over Stereotypes

By: Lindsay Larsen

Posted: 2/2/07

A party held days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day and hosted by students at the UConn School of Law has caused controversy and drawn fire for being racially insensitive.

Photographs from the party, which had a "Bullets and Bubbly" theme, were posted on Facebook.com, and some students and staff members were offended by the appearance of the students in the photos.

The partygoers, who were mainly law school students, are depicted in the photos dressed in do-rags, baggy clothes, gold teeth with some holding machine guns. The photographs also had captions, some containing rap lyrics. The party was held at a private home and about 75 people attended, according to The Hartford Courant.

The photographs were brought to the attention of administrators, and removed from Facebook, but then were posted at thesmokinggun.com, where they attracted wider attention, according to interim Law School Dean Kurt Strasser.

Strasser said the photos serve as a lesson to people who post material on the Internet.

"People put things on Facebook and think it's controlled but it's really not," said Strasser.

According to Strasser, the people who attended the party did not intend it to be hurtful.

"It was an exercise in bad judgment," Strasser said. It is indicative of a lack of understanding about different communities and is also reflective of a larger societal issue, Strasser said.

Michael Nichols, a law school student and a graduate student trustee on the UConn Board of Trustees, attended the party. The first part of the theme, "bullets," is a slang term for 40 ounces of beer, so some guests dressed in a hip-hop fashion and brought 40s. The second part was "bubbly," so the other half of the attendees wore formal wear and brought champagne, Nichols said; he wore a tuxedo as part of the "bubbly" theme.

"My immediate reaction was sorrow, regret and confusion," said Nichols. I was confused as to why people were hurt or offended, but sorry that they were and regretful that my actions contributed to that hurt - even if I dressed according to the second theme of the party that wasn't found to be offensive."

The Law School organized a roundtable meeting on Jan. 25 to discuss the party. Strasser spoke about what occurred at the party, and then the 200 attendees of the meeting were served pizza and broke into small groups to discuss the issues at hand. The meeting "began a conversation, and [is] only the beginning" to addressing the problem, said Strasser. The meeting gave an opportunity for students to share their opinions and began the process of resolving hurt feelings.

There was a Jan. 29 community open forum with Professor Robin Barnes as a mediator. Students had the opportunity to prepare statements and speak, according to Strasser. There will be further faculty meetings to discuss the issue.

Strasser hopes students will learn the importance of appreciating their differences from this incident, as well as the importance of being professional.

Nichols says he will stop and think about how future parties are perceived by others.

"I've learned a great deal about sensitivity," Nichols said. "There certainly seems to be a disconnect between cultures at UConn Law, and I am now more sensitive to the perspective of many of my classmates."

Recently, there have been other controversies over similar parties at schools around the nation. In January, students at both Tarleton State University in Texas and Clemson University in South Carolina had parties for Martin Luther King Day and pictures were posted on Facebook.com that were deemed offensive, according to CBS News. The pictures from the Tarleton State University party were posted on thesmokingun.com and feature students wearing hip-hop apparel and giving gang hand signals, as well as one girl dressed as Aunt Jemima.