A Clemson University administrator is banning students from displaying references to Harambe in dorms because it promotes “racism” and “rape culture.”
On Friday, a Clemson administrator sent out the new policy through an email to Resident Advisors instructing them to tell students to take down any Harambe references by September 30.
“Due to an incident that happened earlier this week, we are no longer allowing any reference to Harambe (or any other spelling) to be displayed on doors, halls, billboards, or windows,” said the email which was leaked to Campus Reform.
The incident reportedly involves an insensitive Harambe meme being sent to a freshman.
“If residents are asking why they have to take them down you can share that there was a report from an individual about a meme being offensive and bias [sic] in nature and as a result all Harambe references are no longer allowed within our community,” the email read.
Due to the incident students will no longer be able to publicly display Harambe signs and memes after September 30. By then, they all have to be taken down.
Harambe memes and signs can still be displayed inside of dorm rooms but they can not be publicly displayed.
In an email response to a student’s question about why Harambe references would not be publicly displayed, Graduate Community Director Brooks Artis wrote, “although I (nor your RA) can share the incident that was reported [that] resulted resulted in this change, we have to remember that we all come different backgrounds and have different identities that shape how we are affected by different references.”
Brooks added that even though the school is not banning the word, “I want to encourage you to think about what you are saying and how someone who may be a different gender, race, culture, or sexuality than you may take the comment.”
“My hopes are that you are being inclusive in your words, whichever you choose to say, so that you are not reported to OCES or Title IX for using bias [sic] language against someone,” the email read.
[revad2]
