Princeton Student Gov Issues Checklist for ‘Inclusive’ Halloween

Princeton University’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) issued a checklist to students on Thursday to ensure that their Halloween costumes fostered an “inclusive experience for all students.”

USG distributed its checklist to Princeton’s undergraduate students in an email obtained by Campus Reform. The email contained several questions that students were to “take some time out and ask [themselves]” before attending the Ivy League school’s annual Halloween function, dubbed “Princetoween.”

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Students were to ask themselves whether “my costume [is] making fun of a group of people,” or whether it “reduce[s] cultural differences to jokes and stereotypes.”

“Are you altering your skin color, facial/body features to make it darker or indicative of a particular race, ethnicity, or cultural group?” another question reads.

“Is your costume ‘funny’,” another asked, “because you’re dressing up as someone from a particular race, gender, ethnicity, or culture?” Another question warned students to consider whether their costumes “have the potential to create an unsafe or hostile environment.”

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Princeton USG distributed the same checklist last year before Princetoween. At the time, when asked whether there would be any disciplinary action taken against students who declined to heed the guidelines, a university spokesman told Campus Reform that “the guidelines you cite are just that, guidelines, and reminders that this is a very diverse community that values respect for others and inclusion.”

{snip} “Absent other factors, Halloween costumes are not a ground for discipline under our procedures.”