Students Dress as Ku Klux Klan Members and in Blackface at Charles Stuart University

Six Australian students attended a “politically-incorrect” themed party at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia on Thursday, five dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan and one in blackface as a “cotton-picking” slave.

A picture posted to Instagram (via Instagram/The Guardian)

A Facebook post described the event as a two-day end-of-semester party as the first night themed “politically incorrect” at the Black Swan Hotel.

“As exams have just commenced we are already looking forward to the end of term and thus, the idea of the muddy duck ‘two dayer’ has been born,” the post read, per the Guardian. Thursday night [is a] ‘politically incorrect’ themed session kicking off at 7.30pm. So grab a kit that would legally get you in the sh*t and hook right in,” it read.

There were multiple pictures of the six students posted to social media that were later deleted. The men also later deleted their Instagram and Facebook accounts.

One Instagram post, showing the five students in white robes and one in blackface body paint, had a caption that read, “very very politically incorrect. Cotton prices are unreal though so it’s a great time to be pickin.”

The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Andrew Vann, issue a statement that read: “Charles Sturt University will not tolerate this offensive behaviour. It does not reflect our university values and we strongly condemn these actions. CSU is currently investigating these incidents and social media posts,”

In a Facebook post written at 9pm Thursday that has since been deleted, the Black Swan Hotel claimed it had no prior knowledge of the theme of the party or the racist outfits.

“The pub was made aware of an incident unbeknownst to staff. We were unaware of this behaviour happening out the back of the pub, however we have immediately dealt with this. We have zero tolerance and do not condone this behaviour.”

Author:
Gigi Foster is a student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She's a midfielder on the women's soccer team and is studying ocean sciences.