June 2, 2008
Seattle U. Stops Student Party Because of Facebook Post
Before a Memorial Day party even got started, officials at Seattle University told the students planning to throw it to shut it down. The reason: officials were alarmed by a Facebook post advertising the off-campus party, because they felt it had a theme of gender bias.
The Seattle Times reported that, for the party, women “were to wear Victoria’s Secret Pink-brand sweats or Abercrombie & Fitch clothing and talk constantly on their cellphones, according to the invitation on the social-networking site Facebook…. The event was dubbed the ‘Douchebag’ party.”
Students said the party was supposed to be a parody. Still, officials, reading about the party, wrote to the students, warning they may violate the university’s code of conduct and face sanctions. The students decided to call off the party.
Unhappy students say officials have made such before-the-fact moves on other parties. And the student newspaper editorialized that administrators are “flexing their authority in a pre-emptive fashion.” —Josh Fischman
Posted on Monday June 2, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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Seattle University is a private institution, and is entitled to define its educational mission as it chooses. The same, of course, was true of the late and largely unlamented Antioch College of Ohio, the result of whose experiments in policing the private lives of its students during its last years of existence Seattle U.‘s administration will do well to bear in mind.
— Gustave Jun 2, 12:20 PM #
That is like so unfair. we didn’t even know adults knew about facebook. What about our constitutional right against free searches and seizures. this is soooo unfair. Wait till I call my dad. his law firm will totally kick butt.
— MikeyD Jun 2, 12:43 PM #
ROFL and like OMG this is so wrong and stuff. And i would have worn my A&F stuff to like.
— Eric Jun 2, 12:56 PM #
It is ultimately the student’s choice to choose to attend a university that offers the type of collegiate experience that is congruent with the student’s expectations.
Hosting an off campus “Douchebag” party wouldn’t have raise an eye brow at Arizona State University. Maybe those students should look at transferring to sunny Tempe Arizona. It would cost a lot less than Seattle U and you get to wear flip-flops all year round!
— Michael C Jun 2, 01:16 PM #
Antioch is much-lamented!
— LP Jun 2, 01:50 PM #
I think I was at a douchebag party last week. And a lesbian party the week before – not one chick talked to me. Lesbians, man!
— B. Deluca Jun 2, 01:57 PM #
B. Deluca, you made me laugh—thank you!
— Susan K Jun 2, 02:02 PM #
Let us not lose sight of the fact that Douchebags present a real social danger to Nice Guys everywhere.
— Justin Jun 2, 02:31 PM #
I didn’t really understand how the university can claim any jurisdiction in policing off-campus parties advertised on Facebook until I actually read their Code of Conduct which claims jurisdiction, even off-campus. Students “agree” to this code of conduct simply by enrolling in the school. It’s like a crappy end-user license agreement.
— Matt Jun 2, 03:16 PM #
i went to a private institution and there were many a party that were much more offensive than a “Douchebag party.” I seem to remember one entitled
‘Hoes and CEO’s.” You can imagine the required dress for such an event.
However, this is one of the arguments I hate and def hear most often. I pay to go here why shouldn’t I get to do what I want? This is something that went all the way back to high school and I had to calmly explain to all my firneds that when you walk in those doors you give up most of your normal rights. Have a problem with it? Go to a public institution. Want to stay here? Then deal.
— maureen Jun 2, 04:06 PM #
Want to know the real reason the administrators shut the party down? Look at the court decision to allow students and parents to sue TX A&M administrators over twelve bonfire deaths. I predict administrators will respond to the ruling by playing the heavy at every opportunity just to cover their own d.b. butts.
— Greg Jun 2, 04:38 PM #
Were they going to serve wine coolers or lattes?
— Cynthia Jun 2, 09:32 PM #
I advertised a party for myself, to myself, with the requirement that all guests wear bow ties and plaid jackets. The school shut it down, for fear I might injure my ego, which, of course, was already injured in my having the said party for myself in the first place.
— Chris K Jun 2, 10:53 PM #
Original marci, where are you? This deserves your insightful comment. I hope you weren’t up too late last night at a Facebook online party!
— Bill S. Jun 3, 06:37 AM #
So how would this have been different from any other student party?
— Carl Jun 3, 07:38 AM #
Seattle University is not only private; more significantly, it is Jesuit and clearly states that one of its purposes is to “cultivate a new generation of moral leaders.” Certainly the theme of the proposed party was not consistent with the educational and moral values of the institution. As a leading Catholic university, SU has an obligation to expect decency and civility in its students.
— Carl Jun 3, 08:50 AM #
Once again it is time we need to get real. Clearly we are failing our students who still do not understand that the World Wide Web is anything but personal. The true travesty here is if you truly buy the thought the party was a parody. How many of you planned, participated and/or hung out at a frat party (no mater the generation you are identified with). Finally, Antioch did not meet it’s demise because it ask students to maintain some decorum; it meet it’s demise because it started to be defined by it’s students rather than it’s vision. But, one must ask if the next administrative position we see posted is for a Student Affairs professional with a “social community” endorsement.
— Dr. Bill Jun 3, 08:51 AM #
Maybe the term “douchebag” refers to the planners of this party. That said, these students knew when they entered Seattle U that they were expected to adhere to the ethical values of the institution.
Furthermore, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that Seattle U ask its students to show respect for themselves and the members of the other gender by cancelling this party. Imagine the furor that would have arisen had they thrown a Facebook party inviting guests to show up wearing blackface or swastikas.
— Mina Jun 3, 09:13 AM #
The exertion of a student code-of-contact beyond the educational instutition and into the students’ private lives as distinct for their university lives is at issue here, and universities, above all else, care deeply about “reputation.” An individual attending who attends such a institution will likely face sanctions for any action with would reflect negatively on the institution, no matter where it occurs, so long as s/he attends. Be that it is only a matter of time until said institutions seek to regulate the behavior of graduates in a similar manner… note this: administration of Universities and Colleges are, essentially, conservative and highly image oriented… and reside in a unique place in which they can accept money from students and their families (thier “customers”) and then proceed to dictate how thier customers must behave. This would be akin to paying your employer to work and having your employer to dictate how you live.
— Bob Jun 3, 11:59 AM #
The only thing more troubling than a Douchebag party is the bevy of sorority girls willing to be Douchebags. Ahhh, the allure of penis and beer…..er…uh, peanuts and beer!
— original marci Jun 3, 12:20 PM #
Don’t appreciate the fact that your school is holding you to a “higher standard”? Don’t want to have to follow the Code that they’ve developed and face the resultant potential consequences? Fine. Leave. Go somewhere else.
And why are so many stuck with the notion that learning is limited to the classroom? You can’t believe these students didn’t learn something about how to promote their parody-themed party the next time? They’ll probably advertise through Twitter instead of Facebook, or some other cutting-edge communication method which hasn’t even entered the collective consciousness yet.
And I think the logic Bob employs is flawed – especially when looking at higher education as a commodity or service, where students and parents are the customers – I think it’s more akin to all the EULA’s for many of the other things that we buy these days – particularly electronics and computer-related items – which come with miles and miles of lawyer-speak and details ad-nauseum what one can and can’t do with or to or near it.
— Mike Jun 3, 12:33 PM #
OK, I agree that the party “theme” is in poor taste, sexist and makes participants look like idiots and losers (at least from the perspective of adults and other parents who may be contemplating shelling out the bucks to have junior attend next fall). However, I think students should be given the latitude to be idiots and losers. Its part of growing up. Although it appears that the school’s code of conduct does allow them to take action, it would seem like a better idea to allow students to attend, see what happens and then make decisions about whether the code of conduct was violated. The forewarning creates the expectation in students that administrators will always be telling them what is and is not acceptable — thus they will never learn to make the decisions for themselves. People complain about the current generation of students needing to be hand-fed and coddled, not being able to stand on their own, but I think we (their parents, teachers, mentors, etc . . . ) have made them that way by refusing to ever let them make choices and face consequences for them. Let them party and sort it out later if there’s a problem.
— EAC Jun 3, 12:41 PM #
This controversi is waay cool. Who sez our generashun doesnt care?
— Misstra Know-It-All Jun 3, 02:45 PM #
for us adults…exactly what is a douchebag party? and what would one do at such an affair?
— bill Jun 3, 03:56 PM #
Thank you Carl (#16) and Marci (#20) for stating the obvious issue with the SU party.
— bptelford Jun 4, 09:56 AM #
I agree with EAC (#22) that “students should be given the latitude to be idiots and losers.”
The problem with that logic is that parents hold the institution totally responsible if anything goes terribly wrong. “I’m a good parent for almost 20 years who didn’t teach my Janie to be a pink douchebag. She must’ve learned that decadence in her few months at the U of Gomorrah.”
So, I’m afraid Greg (#11) is more correct. How can administrators NOT control such activities when they know parents are going to immediately abdicate their own responsibility, with courts’ blessings, in times of trouble?
— darrell in dallas Jun 4, 10:45 AM #
Re-read the article – administrators did not “shut the party down.” They did what all good educators and mentors do – provide students with resources, trigger students to consider multiple potential outcomes before they take action, and encourage them to make informed decisions. Kudos to the students for reconsidering what was a bad choice, and kudos to the administrators for helping them do so. (This relationship should hold at institutions that are public, private, Catholic, and Antioch. And it should hold, on-campus and off-campus.)
Now, if the students had chosen to hold the party anyway, and the administrators had held them accountable through the student conduct process, THEN all those other issues come into play. But in the meantime, administrators can, and should, communicate with students about their impending choices, when they get wind of them.
In my experience, students sometimes get very indignant about my having an opinion about their poorer choices. Why would a student have a right to demand I not have a professional opinion? I suspect the student already knows it was a poor choice, and is frustrated because he’s trying to deny it and I’m making that difficult.
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— prhhgc Jun 5, 08:48 AM #
Party baby! Just don’t die or get hurt doing it.
Don’t do hard drugs. They’re crazy bad.
— graduated Jun 14, 01:00 AM #