Issue of the Week LXVIII: What Should Happen To the Arizona State University Fraternity for the MLK Day Party?

Martin Luther King day is a day to be celebrated but not the way the TKE fraternity did at Arizona State. It's sad to see that people are still disrespectful and discriminate the people that are different then them. I am not only talking about people with a different skin tone but also the people that are physically disabled, or have a learning and talking disablement. The United States is still full of all types discrimination and this party shows it very well. College students are always looking for a party, trust me I have been to a party school where the parties start on Thursday. College students love their parties, but what they don't know is when they throw these very disrespectful parties it reflects on the fraternity and the whole University! So they need to pay more attention to what they are trying to say through their parties. One question I do have is how does a party get planned and carried through without someone that is over the fraternity not knowing? How did this party go unseen to the head of the fraternity until the photos got on social media and it was already over?? Maybe these fraternity people need to watch their fraternities a little more carefully if they don't want parties like these to happen.

This fraternity shows it has historically been problematic with hazing and now this party. Fraternities are always looking for reasons to celebrate and to throw parties, and themes to attract people to the parties, but it just happens that this time it was planned poorly and without much thought. There could have been illegal activity, like drug use, at the party, but the news chose to cover the racial aspect of the party and I find that interesting.

The Actions taken by the students of the TKE fraternity were really disrespectful and really did bring down the expectations of the University as a whole. This kind of thinking is what is really bringing the nation down also as a whole. That day is a ceremonial day, of remembrance and those students really just showed what Dr. King was actually trying to prevent with the accomplishments that we celebrate him for. I understand that college students all want an excuse to dress up and be crazy for a night, but they could have done any type of party, but in someone's mind they decided to take the more extreme racist approach and make it more of a make fun of African American party, which is really offensive to me. In all my years I have never heard of a make fun of white people party, because bringing race into that environment just dampens the mood and makes situations awkward. Really I believe that there should be consequences for the students in the pictures and any other guilty party, because in making a mistake consequences can help.

I think it is kind of shocking how MLK day was used to cover up for some college party including offensive and racial items and themes. This is not how it is supposed to be and it should result in consequences so that people involved learn how disrespectful they have acted. It would be interesting to know if people at this party do know about the historical significance of MLK day and furthermore, if they knew about the kind of party they were attending. In either way, discrimination should be one topic to be addressed in order to make them realize that such a party on a day like this is a "no go". But the scheduled conference will uncover more.

I think this party was poorly put together and supervised by higher fraternity members. those who participated should be ashamed of themselves for disgracing a national holiday even if it was within the walls of just the frat house. These days people can see just about everything that's going on even if they arent apart of it due to facebook, instagram, twitter, etc. Just because they got caught doing it doesn't make it right. I believe they should be punished by the fraternity's upper management but the school should not be involved since it wasn't on school grounds.

This is very raciest, only because this fraternity doesn't allow black people in, in the first place. They should be punished by the upper management from the fraternity. You don't honor someone by dressing up as slaves at a party that they were hosting. This is just disrespectful to a lot of American's.

This is just evidence to me that people's brains don't fully develop until age 25. By no means am I suggesting that this is an excusable offense because they are young. I just don't think these college students realized the effect that this party would have on them and their fraternity's image. I doubt that the majority of those that attended the party are racist or even close to it; I think they heard there was a party, costumes and alcohol were involved, and it'd be a great way to socialize and have fun. I bet there were even a few black students that attended.

There is anything bad with parties. actually I agree that college is the time to do that and enjoy, but this kind of behaviors are which make adults doubt about young's criterion. It is unbelievable the level of stupidness that people can get. Taking into account the importance of Martin Luther King's day and how much it does mean to people from US.
Fraternities need to realize the indicated day to throw a party, and then realize who is going to come (Guys from the picture for example). It is sad because of course this issue was from a specific number of people and not from everybody from that faternity. Now the punishment must goes to the leader of that association and to the entity ''fraternity''. Also do a research and punish those who are really involved.

This party had such an extreme disrespectful tone towards other people.
It actually just proves the point that, unfortunately, this country is still contaminated with discrimination.
It is very sad to see this kind of facts happening, specially in the university world, which it was supposed to be more open-minded and have modern concepts. This generation was not born in segregation, so there is no point in keeping this roots of discrimination towards different people.

Ok so I understand and completely agree that what the fraternity group did was horrendous and it was in fact a party thrown out of pure ignorance; however, it isn't illegal. Unless someone can show me something that says throwing a party like this is illegal, then I don't really see any "problem". The punishment should simply be getting kicked out of the fraternity and maybe getting some sort of punishment from the school, but is a press conference really necessary? The article states "I think this represents the ignorance that still exists today. This is just one example of the kind of things that occur here" and I completely agree with statement. But really these students, as ignorant as they may be, have every right (in my opinion) to throw whatever party they wish. Are we calling Miley Cyrus racist because she's wearing a jersey and acting like she's black in her music video? Are we kicking white students out of school because they decide to sag their pants and wear doo-rags? Not that I have heard of. I don't agree with what they did but I don't think it deserves as much attention as it is getting.

"I think this represents the ignorance that still exists today. This is just one example of the kind of things that occur here," Kaajal Koranteng, an ASU senior, told the TV station. I think that quote sums it up. I always think it's funny to read about what kinds of things the fraternities do here because it seems like an outward representation of the fact that there is still a lot of races and being bred underground. These are young people in America so it seems that the value of racism and stereotyping is still being taught to children. I'm not sure the fraternity members or partygoers realized how racist they are costing and decorations were, I think they were just being insensitive and ridiculous.

Arizona State University is known as a top party school across America. I am not surprised that the frats are once again in trouble. Fraternities like these, are the reason that greek life and huge schools like ASU have such a bad reputation.