This year’s Christmas card for the brothers of Phi Delta Theta at the University of Pennsylvania is like a racist, sexist Where’s Waldo. Can you spot the reason these frat boys were drafting an apology letter instead of making Christmas cookies (or Christmas…beer cozies? I don’t know a lot about frat hobbies)? If you missed it, posing along with these young men full of holiday glee is a black blow up doll. The poor decision to buy the doll and pose with it went public when one of the bros posted it on Facebook. As part of the apology letter sent out by the frat’s president Jimmy Germi to other members (to prepare it for wide release) explained, the doll was a joking secret santa gift meant to be Beyonce (an assertion that doesn’t help them out at all). Minority groups on campus issued a statement criticizing the picture, saying,
“The inclusion of a racially and sexually charged object in such a flagrant fashion displays a serious and immediate need for repercussions that reflect the severity of this misogynistic, racist offense. We—UMOJA, APSC, UMC, Latin@ Coalition, Lambda Alliance, and PCUW—firmly believe that when an event like this marginalizes one of our communities, it marginalizes us all.”
Let’s hope these particular frat has is dealt with accordingly, and that we don’t see any more pictures like this in 2015.
