‘No bongos or shisha pipes’: Multicultural college faces race row over student’s ‘English party’
The rugby captain at one of Britain’s most ethnically diverse universities has been forced to apologise after inviting students to an ‘English party’.
Fellow students accused Timothy McLellan of racism after he sent out an invitation to the event, promising ‘no bongos, shisha pipes or Arabic music’.
The backlash was so severe that he has emailed more than 3,000 students at the School of Oriental and African Studies admitting the poster was ‘naive and ill-conceived’.
The law student said he was only trying to make a joke out of the fact so many social events at SOAS, part of the University of London, had ethnic and multicultural themes.
In his email Mr McLellan, 20, said: “The aim of the poster was not to alienate or discriminate but rather to express that this party was, unlike most SOAS events, going to have a more mainstream vibe. “The choice of the word ‘English’, which I now regret, was not intended to mean that it was a party for white English students but was rather intended to express that the party’s vibe reflected England’s mainstream culture, which in itself is not racially exclusive.
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