Nazi Costume Prompt VMI Investigation

Nazi Costumes Prompt VMI Investigation
Africans, Gays Also Parodied
By Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 29, 2005; Page B01

Virginia Military Institute has asked a student governing body to investigate and recommend discipline against cadets who attended a Halloween party wearing costumes that parodied Nazis, Africans and homosexuals.

In a statement posted yesterday on VMI's Web site, school officials said they were "disappointed" in the behavior and judgment of the cadets.

"Civility and respect for others is something VMI is trying to inculcate in the cadets," said Stewart MacInnis, a spokesman for the state-supported school, which has about 1,300 students enrolled this year. "When I look at the pictures, I don't see anything mean-spirited. What I see are college kids who are trying to use humor, and they missed. They really missed. It wasn't the right thing to do."

In one photo posted on a public Web site, three young men wearing black shirts pose as Nazis with their right arms extended in a stiff-armed salute. One appears to have a straight, stiff mustache resembling Adolf Hitler's.

Another picture shows a man painted black from head to toe, his white skin visible at the edges of a loincloth.

Two photos mock homosexuals. In one, two men are dressed as fairies, complete with tiaras, wands, wings, pink briefs and T-shirts with the words "I [love] a man in uniform." In another, a youth dressed in a sailor's uniform is bent over to display a target taped to his buttocks, while a shirtless cadet sidles up behind him.

Hoping to turn the incident into a lesson for the student body, the school has asked the General Committee to investigate and recommend action. The committee is composed of three cadet officers, one each from the sophomore, junior and senior classes. They are generally charged with enforcing standards of conduct among the cadet corps.

Fact-finding will be conducted by another group of cadets, called the Officer of the Guard Association. Members will report to the General Committee, which will send its recommendations to the administration.

"We want to take advantage of an opportunity to provide a teaching point here -- that offensiveness shouldn't be tolerated," said MacInnis, predicting that the report would take at least two weeks to complete.

It is unclear whether the students broke any rules. Cadets can be disciplined for "conduct unbecoming" that brings disrespect to the institution. The school had allowed use of the barracks for the Halloween party under the condition that all costumes be appropriate.

The photographs were taken by a student at the party, which was held on campus and attended by 300 to 400 cadets, MacInnis said. The party was supervised by adult staff and at least two student officers, he said. It is not clear how many people who attended saw the partygoers wearing the costumes.

The photos were among 26 from the party that initially were posted on a Web site featuring snapshots taken by amateur photographers -- primarily sunsets, wildlife and travel pictures. They gained a wider audience when an independent media Web site, Richmond.indymedia.org, posted the pictures Wednesday and noted: "These are, after all, the men who are supposed to one day graduate to their own posts at Gitmos and Abu Ghraibs around the world."

At least some of the eight cadets who posed for the photos have been identified and questioned about their costumes, MacInnis said. The school is not releasing the names of the students.

Robert O'Neil, a University of Virginia law professor and director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Free Expression, said courts have ruled that civilian colleges can do little to sanction student expressions of free speech, however offensive. As a public school, VMI probably would be held to the same standard, despite its military character and mission.

One possible exception, he noted, might be related to the inappropriate display of military uniforms in the photograph of the two men dressed in Navy whites with bull's-eyes on the pant seats.

Word of the incident was beginning to spread on the campus of VMI yesterday, said Paul Bryan, a senior, first classman, from Lexington, Va. Bryan attended the party but said he did not see the costumes.

"VMI strives very hard to present the best image of young men and women," he said. "The fact that some of it can be taken away by the actions of a few is disappointing."

Andy Hollinger, a spokesman for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, noted that VMI quickly denounced the cadets' behavior. He said he hoped the cadets learn something about the genocide of the Nazis.

"Hopefully this will be taken as an opportunity by the participants and others to educate themselves about the Holocaust and gain a deeper understanding of why so many people, particularly survivors and their families, find this offensive and are still deeply hurt by the swastika and what it represents," he said.

The rant continues.

I have observed how in Catholics circles and Christian circles, racism is not a disqualifying factor regarding one's "holiness," "faithfulness" and "orthodoxy." Racism is often simply a "flaw" or minor blemmish. This is simply an extension of the sort of racism we see in the wider soceity.

This is not rocket science. Why did these young men feel like they could do this and that it would be considered funny and fun and that they could get away with this? That's what we are fighting these days. Somehow, it never registered with these young men and their friends that this was evil. This is the racism we're fighting.

But it gets worse, note the response of the spokesman:

"When I look at the pictures, I don't see anything mean-spirited. What I see are college kids who are trying to use humor, and they missed. They really missed. It wasn't the right thing to do."

For him, it is a simple misguided prank!!!! I always warn young Black men that they have to realize that society sees them as criminals and dangerous people. When young White men do things like this, it is simply a prank, nothing more. But when young Black men do similar things, it is threat and dangerous and not to be dismissed lightly. This is the what we're fighting against a built-in racist perception in society.

How is it that year after year, we get the same halloween/party costume stories? Come on, people!

P.S. I focus here on the meta aspect, the fact that these young men thought it okay to do it and that it is dismissed as a prack. I did not focus on the fact that they emulated Nazis, parodied Africans and gays. That deserves coverage, but my focus is more in continuation with my previous posts on the issue of racism, that it is very much alive and well and flourishing.