When Monica Culver arrived at a Sept. 24 party thrown by campus spirit organization the Longhorn Hellraisers, she was shocked and offended by what she saw.
"Most of the guys were dressed up as cowboys," said Culver, a government senior. "Most of the girls were dressed as Indians. They looked like they were wearing Pocahontas costumes, and they had feathers in their hair."
To Culver, this was more than just a theme party.
"I found it offensive, because they used the Native American culture as an accessory to their party," Culver said. "Also, the history between the American Indians and the cowboys is a very violent one, and the party made light of this history."
Culver decided just leaving the party early wasn't enough, so she approached the Multicultural Information Center where she works in an effort to right what she believed was an offensive incident.
But the Hellraisers said they did not intend to offend Native Americans and are upset they weren't notified by Culver or the MIC about the complaint. While Hellraisers spokesman Christian Deitering admits the Hellraisers threw the costume party, he said there were no gender-specific costumes, and the group took precautions to prevent offensive situations.
"When we came up with the party idea, and someone said 'cowboys and Indians,' we decided that some people might find that term offensive, so we made it the 'cowboys and Native Americans party' instead," Deitering said. "We're all just students with good intentions of supporting UT and having a good time on the weekend at a theme party. There were no activities or dress that were demeaning."
Last year a UT fraternity was suspended by their national chapter for throwing a "Gin and Juice," themed party where people allegedly wore racially offensive T-shirts. Fraternities affiliated with the University and groups like the Hellraisers are both considered student organizations and are monitored by Campus and Community Involvement.
According to Nathan Heinsohn, co-director of the MIC agency Longhorn American Indian Council, the MIC plans to file a formal complaint with the Office of the Dean of Students, who would then handle any investigation in accordance with the University's nondiscrimination policy.
"If they're sanctioned, we want there to be an educational part to this," Heinsohn said. "Of course, the organization should be reprimanded for their actions, but they could be told they were wrong without understanding it. We would like them to go through some sort of training."
The MIC did not, however, inform the Hellraisers of their intentions to file a complaint.
"If they want us to take a class or undergo training about diversity, we'll go," Deitering said. "We want to show that we had no intentions of being derogatory towards Native Americans. All these people needed to do was to come and talk to us, and we could have avoided all this."
Deitering said his group has made an active effort to become diverse through the recruitment and respect of underrepresented groups. For the Hellraisers "to be sanctioned because one person was offended is ridiculous," he said.
But Heinsohn said this is exactly what the MIC is supposed to do.
"The whole point of this center is for everyone to feel that their voice is equal, that they can say what they need to say and have it be taken seriously," Heinsohn said.
The Hellraisers believe this is one complaint that shouldn't be taken seriously.
"I don't see how every voice can be equal," Deitering said, "when all it takes is one voice to tarnish our reputation."
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