Posted on 03/28/2008 10:15:42 AM PDT by BGHater
A skit with a black-faced white student portraying Barack Obama receiving a lap dance has sparked claims of racial insensitivity and an investigation at North Dakota State University.
The NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club and sorority Alpha Gamma Delta are at the center of the controversy for a lip-sync act performed for 500 people at the Mr. NDSU Pageant.
People who attended the performance described what happened:
A pageant contestant from Saddle and Sirloin dressed as the woman from the popular Internet video “I Got a Crush on Obama” and performed for another student who was wearing dark makeup and an afro wig.
In the background, two male students dressed as cowboys simulated anal sex while holding an Obama sign that one student ripped at the conclusion of the 30-second performance.
Presidents of the sorority and the club for students interested in animal agriculture publicly apologized at an NDSU town hall meeting this week.
A complaint was filed stemming from the incident, and officials are looking into whether either group violated the code of student conduct.
The controversy comes on the heels of a complaint filed against a University of North Dakota sorority for a party where guests wore mock Indian clothing and red face and body paint.
It also comes about a week before Democratic presidential candidate Obama is scheduled to visit North Dakota to speak at the state Democratic Convention.
Malika Carter, NDSU assistant director of multicultural student services, said students of color who were at the March 18 event came to her with concerns.
Students have said the skit was racially insensitive and homophobic, and it objectified women, Carter said.
Student Sheri Banks said she
doesn’t understand why the sorority didn’t stop the group before they went on stage.
“Why would you not screen these acts before they went on?” Banks asked.
Josh Reimnitz, NDSU student body president who was in the audience, said the crowd got quiet and some booed in response to the act.
“My jaw just dropped. I didn’t even know what to think,” Reimnitz said. “I didn’t know what the point was of the entire skit.”
Jonathan Foss, a contestant in the pageant for the third year in a row, said the acts are typically appropriate for a wide audience. Foss brought his grandmother with him the previous two years.
“It’s a college-performed show, there might be an innuendo here and there, but usually it’s pretty clean,” Foss said.
In a written apology, Saddle and Sirloin President Jenna Schmidt said the students were trying to re-enact the YouTube video and did not mean to be offensive.
“We realize that this action was not appropriate and all involved in the skit have expressed their remorse,” she said.
Attempts to reach participants in the skit were unsuccessful.
Russell Danielson, the club’s adviser, said the students involved are from rural North Dakota communities with little diversity. He plans to talk to NDSU’s diversity officer about arranging sensitivity training for the members.
“It wasn’t malicious and it wasn’t racist in any way,” Danielson said. “They’re very apologetic and they realize the mistake that they made.”
Kodee Gartner, past president of Alpha Gamma Delta and an emcee of the event, said the sorority did not know ahead of time what type of performance Saddle and Sirloin had planned.
Contestants had the option of doing a dress rehearsal, but the club did not participate. In the future, they will have a more strict screening process.
“We definitely do not support or condone that type of behavior,” Gartner said.
A hearing officer will determine if the organizations face any sanctions, said Amy Graff, associate director for student activities.
The Mr. NDSU pageant is an annual fundraiser for diabetes research. It raised more than $3,500.
A similar Miss NDSU pageant is scheduled for next month.
Alpha Tau Omega, which hosts the Miss NDSU pageant, will take precautions to make sure something like this doesn’t happen, said Foss, fraternity vice president.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Amy Dalrymple at (701) 241-5590
Back to sensitivity training for these students. Of course their parents will have to pick up the cost for the additional college course.
“Students have said the skit was racially insensitive and homophobic, and it objectified women”
Aren’t those good things?
1st Amendment protection...it’s art!
Times have changed. I remember as a 6th grader our entire class put on a minstrel show in black face for the rest of the school.
“A skit with a black-faced white student portraying Barack Obama receiving a lap dance has sparked claims of racial insensitivity and an investigation at North Dakota State University.”
The lap dancing is considered art.
The lap dancing is considered sexist objectification of women.
The claim of homophobia rings false. This is outrage from a heterophobic protester.
And the costume was racist because Obama doesn’t have an afro. He has a closely trimmed “clean and articulate” haircut.
If it was a play with Bush as Hitler or a crucifix in a jar of urine, it’s called art and free speech
Isn’t this that conversation about race that Obama wanted?
Liberals and DemocRATS must sit around all day just thinking this ---- up.
I wonder when we're going to start dealing with religious "insensitivity" and start having some "investigations."
The "conversation" is whites sitting quietly and listening to harangues about crap they had nothing to do with.
No need for anything more than an old fashioned booing off the stage of these jerks. What I find appalling is the total lack of taste and humor by many youngsters these days. I don't find anything on TV very funny (Colbert, Letterman? Jon Stewart barely).
The skit described here:
A pageant contestant from Saddle and Sirloin dressed as the woman from the popular Internet video “I Got a Crush on Obama” and performed for another student who was wearing dark makeup and an afro wig.
In the background, two male students dressed as cowboys simulated anal sex while holding an Obama sign that one student ripped at the conclusion of the 30-second performance
Who in his right frigging mind, college educated or not, finds this garbage FUNNY?
Colleges and the multiculturalists PC idiots have destroyed education, taste, and HUMOR.
Sounds like a perfectly acceptable way to portray the half-white Barack Hussein Obama.
Or, in other words, it was great!
I find it amazing.
That’s messed up. Why would you do blackface for a rich white guy?
Of course, now I get it. We can't have true diversity until everybody thinks like we do.
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