BOWLING GREEN — A group of Bowling Green State University students were suspended from their fraternity this week after social media posts showed them dressed up as Mexican-American gang members on Halloween and mocking cultural appropriation.
University President Rodney Rogers announced this week that the students’ actions were protected by the First Amendment and the university’s free speech and expression policies, so they were not disciplined by BGSU.
“While their actions were inappropriate and counter to BGSU’s Core Values on diversity and inclusion, the reported behavior is protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and our own policy on free speech and expression,” he wrote in a message to the BGSU community. “Therefore, there was no violation of the student code of conduct.”
Social media posts show the nine students dressed as stereotypes of Mexican-American gang members, with captions calling themselves “#CholoGang” and saying “your culture is my costume.”
“This type of speech and behavior has no place in our community, and we will always speak out against individuals and groups that espouse racism, intolerance, or hate,” Mr. Rogers wrote.
A university spokesman said he could not confirm which fraternity was involved because of federal student data privacy laws, but BGSU’s Pi Kappa Alpha’s chapter acknowledged in November that those involved are members.
“We are not ignoring your voices and have been working intensely to deal consequences to those involved in the incident,” the chapter wrote Nov. 7. “This type of behavior is unacceptable and does NOT reflect who we are as a chapter or citizens to the community.”
The chapter said at the time that the nine involved had been placed on administrative suspension. Mr. Rogers’ email said the members are now suspended from the fraternity for a year.
The chapter also agreed to appoint a diversity and inclusion chair, to conduct a community service project in the Latino community, and to invite a speaker to campus to talk about diversity and inclusion. The dean of students will meet with each student as well.
First Published November 30, 2018, 10:33 p.m.
