FAIRFIELD — A “ghetto-themed” party hosted Saturday by Fairfield University students in off-campus housing has set off both an investigation and a call for more sensitivity on the sprawling, suburban campus.
“It is truly disappointing to see my fellow students ... behave in such a manner that mocks (another) race,” Anmol Tabassum, a Bridgeport resident and Fairfield University sophomore, said Monday.
“The fact that there was even an idea to dress as ‘ghetto’ is an intrinsically perverted issue,” said Joe Harding, a Fairfield University junior from Philadelphia, said. “When a party has a theme, the participants are expected to wear a costume. In this case, the partygoers chose to wear clothing and accessories that portrayed their conceptualizations of what it means to be ghetto ... Ghetto is not a term of endearment.” Harding called the event “despicable” and “disappointing.”
After responding to social media posts and at least one picture allegedly taken at the party, on Monday Jennifer Anderson, the university’s vice president of marketing and communications, said officials are working with students and diversity officials to investigate.
“There was a party on Saturday evening, at a house on the beach,’’ Anderson confirmed. “We are working to understand the details.” University spokeswoman Teddy DeRosa said appropriate actions would be taken as soon as the facts have been determined.
On the Fairfield campus, some students said they were disturbed and outraged by the reported incident. Brianna Tancredi a junior accounting and management major, condemned the party. “There are certain groups on campus, where that’s their culture, that’s where they came from,” Tancredi said. “But having that party, it’s like making fun of it.”
Marelyn Maces, a freshman from Bridgeport of Mexican descent, found out about the theme of the party Monday morning from a friend. “Sometimes we make decisions and don’t know what the outcomes are on other people,” Maces said. “We have to think twice about what we’re doing. We’re not just affecting ourselves, we’re affecting everyone around us.”
Other Fairfield University students seemed unfazed. “I’m neutral about it. I don’t have any feelings toward it,” said Nick Sagliocca, as he and fellow sophomore Brian Mason headed to the gym Monday afternoon. “It’s like Halloween, where I’m dressed as a gangster,” Brian Mason, who said he dressed that way as a 4-year-old, said. “Nobody said anything then.”
Both said they heard of the party and watched the theme go through several iterations, starting as a toga theme early in the week and ending up, the Saturday of the event, as ghetto-themed. Sagliocca said he had considered going, but ended up going elsewhere.
