The University of Florida warns its students about their Halloween costumes.

October 19, 2016 • 12:00 pm

It’s almost Halloween, and you know what that means: the University Costume Police are getting ready to tell us all how we can and cannot dress. Here, from the Gator Times, is a notice from the University of Florida telling students they’d bloody well think hard about what they’re going to wear on Halloween, and should be careful about social media, too.  Note as well the generous availability of the Bias Education and Response team “to respond to any reported incidents of bias” and “to educated [read “‘indoctrinate’] those that were involved.”

h/t: Gregory
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47 thoughts on “The University of Florida warns its students about their Halloween costumes.”

  1. I’m surprised they haven’t banned Halloween altogether; it might be a “trigger” for a born-again Christian to see people enjoy a pagan holiday with satanic overtones- and what about those people who might be “scared that they might get scared”? We MUST make sure that no one is in the slightest way disturbed by anything!:)

    1. Happened at my daughter’s elementary school – 7 families out of 500+ got the Halloween parade banned. Then the principle started ‘Story Book character day” which just so happened to always come on Oct 31…

  2. If I understand this statement correctly, students are being encouraged to report their classmates for anything that might offend anybody. This sounds like something Joe Stalin would approve of.

  3. The proper response to this message is to create a costume of nice suit with a big stick jutting out of the posterior. If anyone asks what you’re supposed to be, you say “a UF Bias Education and Response Team member.”

    1. I was going to suggest wearing a clown costume to represent a UF Bias Education and Response Team member, but I forgot how triggering clown costumes are now.

  4. Think how they’re going to deal with Dia de Muertos and all the skulls and skeletons that go with that – most Halloween costumes (but not decorations, I’ve seen too many fragmented skeletons and gravestones in front yards) are much tamer.
    Oh wait – it’s on the same day.
    Double the offense.

    1. I would think its ok for Latino students to celebrate Day of the Dead but it would be cultural appropriation for others, much like wearing a sombrero on Taco Tuesday.

  6. No one will be offended by Bill Maher’s suggestion and go as a Trump victim with a pair of orange hands glued to your breasts.

    (And on that tangent I LOVED his comment that if you say Hillary rubs you the wrong way, it’s only a metaphor.)

  7. Everyone should dress as the most stereotypical version of their own social subgroup (country, ethnicity, (former) religion etc.)

    It’s not wrong to parody yourself, is it?

      1. My doll would have to be adult, female and inflatable.

        What, triggering? Who to?

        cr

    2. My theory has been that this crowd always lets the offended party define what is offensive. So I’ll bet it that it would be (wrong to parody your own group), if someone complains. With the standard caveat that they don’t recognize any complaints from majority groups.

      1. Yeah, they could argue that you’re promoting the stereotype you just happen to be. But that’s a point I would be ready to stand up to.

        At least, it could be difficult for them to use their standard allegations, for example calling a black person who parodies black people a racist, or a Jew parodying Jews antisemitic. Of course it’s still possible, but a little bit harder. Every bit counts. 🙂

  9. Halloween? Why would a holiday based on fear & mischief inspire such fear and offical mischief?

  10. I recently attended a retreat with a bunch of 7th grade boys, including my son (US Middle School). I was a chaperone.

    They were joking away like crazy about, “that’s triggering me!” and so on.

    Pretty funny, actually.

  11. Well. Are we to expect sharp canine teeth, long black cloaks and bad mascara to be verboten on the grounds that they are offensive to the Romanian vampire community?

  12. “the Bias Education and Response team” — remind me, do they report to the Ministry of Truth or the Ministry of Love?

  13. Well, as a Florida grad (’86), this is depressing to say the least. Fortunately, back in the day, they had a thing called the Halloween Ball at the Quad then later at the Band Shell. Suffice to say it was a good thing that the PC Police were not around then.

  14. It is forbidden to dream again;
    We maim our joys or hide them:
    Horses are made of chromium steel
    And little fat men shall ride them.

    -George Orwell

  15. Some Halloween costumes reinforce stereotypes of particular races, genders, cultures, or religions. [Emphasis added]

    So…which genders lack stereotypes reinforced by Halloween costumes?

    Regardless of intent, these costumes can perpetuate negative stereotypes, causing harm and offense to groups of people.

    I get the “offense bit,” but I’m flummoxed as to why that’s something the University is attempting to stop. I’m offended by every Trump bumper sticker I see on the road, just as every driver of a vehicle sporting a Trump bumper sticker is offended by the existence of brown-skinned people.

    And “harm”? What harm? We’re not talking violence nor threats thereof. There’s no job nor housing nor similar discrimination associated with any of this.

    The only harm I see is to freedom of expression (including the freedom to be an idjit) caused by the idjit University administrators reading 1984 like a policy handbook. And I hope they take offense at my characterization of them as mini-Trumps with Napoleon complexes. They’re clearly terrified by the thought of unpleasant thoughts; with luck, my withering farts in their general direction will cow them into silence, they who smell of elderberries.

    Cheers,

    b&

    1. “every driver of a vehicle sporting a Trump bumper sticker is offended by the existence of brown-skinned people.”

      That, sir, is an unjustified slur. Why, Trump himself just kissed one of them. If she was ten years older he’d grope her. Be fair.

      cr

  18. Does this mean that I can’t wear my smart black Obergruppensturmfuehrer SS uniform, complete with its nice swastika armband and shiny black leather boots, then? Oh dear! And I have been practicing goose-stepping all year in preparation for the big night. 🙁

    1. No that’s probably all right, since it only represents cultural appropriation from the Nazi Party, and nobody seems to worry too much about hurting their feelings any more. Strange but true.

      cr

    3. In Germany, swastikas are illegal to show publicly unless it’s for educational reasons. Also, dressing up as a Nazi would be considered very inappropriate or even rude by most, except maybe if it’s very ironic, like acting up as a queer Hitler. It would still upset many people.

      1. Really, some people have such thin skins…

        (Not serious, in case anyone thinks I was).

        —

        Once, checking in at a UK airport, wearing my Russian hat (complete with hammer-and-sickle badge) that I bought as a souvenir in St Petersburg, I was told by the East European check-in girl that I should not wear that hat in her country as the Russians were still not very popular there! 🙂

  19. Anyone tried out the URL for reporting? Does it work anonymously? If so, it may well get “slashdotted” or whatever.

    (For the sanity of the *mail server administrators*, please do not abuse it.)

  20. It’s not so great to be a Florida Gator today.
    My niece, a current UF student, didn’t mention anything about the costume Stasi the last time we spoke, but she did mention a BDS movement rally in whcih the organizers, “didn’t even try to hide their antisemitism” and at which her boyfriend, after identifying himself as a member of Hillel, was referred to as a fascist.
    Maybe I’m wrong but it seems particularly mean-spirited to refer to a Jew as a fascist.

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