ucsd's "night in the orient"

You've got to be kidding me. Another college event tries to get creative with an "Asian theme." Welcome to the Orient, baby: Revelle Committee Apologizes for Contested Dance Theme. The University of California San Diego's Revelle College recently announced an Asian theme for its semiformal, "Eastern Elegance: A Night in the Orient," complete with fans, silk cherry blossom decorations, a performance by UCSD's Japanese drumming group, and chopstick party favors. Hey, why not just douse soy sauce on everybody while you're at it?

Yay, the Orient. The sad part is, according to the article, this theme was apparently the result of "months of brainstorming" on the part of the Semiformal Committee. I'm sorry, but didn't it occur to anyone on the committee that the theme was absolutely ridiculous? I guess not, and there are apparently a lot of people who could care less... judging from the comments left in response to the story

For the record, the Revelle Semiformal is still set to take place next month, though the name of the event has been changed to "Sakura Night," or "Night of the Cherry Blossom." (I guess they couldn't get a refund on the decorations.) Further details won't be finalized until further discussion with student groups. Let's hope they use this incident to raise public awareness about these issues... (Thanks, Randy.)