A group of American Indian students is upset about a University of North Dakota sorority party last fall in which students dressed up in Indian costumes and wore red makeup on their faces and bodies.
Students associated with UND’s American Indian Student Services house say the party was insulting and racially insensitive. They plan to file a complaint with UND’s affirmative action office.
Photos from the Gamma Phi Beta party were posted on the Facebook social networking site of Anastasia Ginda, the sorority’s president. They show female students wearing Indian dresses and feather headdresses, and some male students wearing loincloths made from T-shirts.
Jillian Krivarchka, who was sorority president at the time of the party, said it was held off campus and was billed as a cowboy-themed party, not an Indian-themed party.
“People chose to dress in a different way and we had no control over how they chose to act,” she said.
“It wasn’t our intent to make anyone upset about it,” Krivarchka said. “It was brought up to us and we said we understand it was not the best thing.”
The Gamma Phi house is next door to the American Indian Student Services house.
