Two Oxford colleges are being accused of planning to host summer balls that may effect and upset women and ethnic minorities by reminding them of an era where there was less equality.
Magdalen and Lincoln colleges were planning to host summer balls based on New Orleans and The Great Gatsby in the 1920s.
Although Lincoln's College's New Orlean ball promised to have “something for everyone”, the university's Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality suggested that the event displayed a “nostalgia for an era of history steeped in racism”.
A law student at the college. Arushi Garg, stated that the event would cause people to remember a college “devoid of women and people of colour”. On the event's Facebook page, Garg commented, “What a place to be! Can't wait to go back in time!!!”
Furthermore, while speaking the university's newspaper, Cherwell, Arushi Garg said, “1926 at Magdalen was a time when people of colour and women were entirely absent... I felt uncomfortable with the advertising. Obviously my demographic makes me less likely than others to uncritically long for a past privileged some more than others... if we were living re-living the past, the corridors of institutional spaces like Magdalen/Oxford is definitely not where you would find people of my gender, race and nationality. I wrote to the Magdalen organisers and they engaged quite respectfully with me.”
The Magdalen Commemoration Ball's committee stated that they were not expecting people to be wearing outfits from the 1920s, they aimed to provide an “experience” for people. On the other hand, Lincoln College's organising committee said that the theme for the ball was based on a scholar's article with “significant reputations on race relations”.
