It’s always amusing to learn of the theme of the annual staff holiday party at the University of California-Riverside. That’s because campus officials bend so far backward to avoid any mention of Christmas it’s beyond ridiculous.
This year, it’s a “Mad Hatter” themed party, complete with an 80s cover band.
Last year, the theme was “Holiday Hoedown,” boasting plenty of cowboy attire and blasting some country music. In 2015, it was a “Masquerade Mystique” holiday party. The campus refuses to use the word Christmas or anything else attached with it.
It’s actually not surprising considering the extreme hypersensitivity against Christmas that universities are known to display in recent years. It’s all done in the name of being inclusive — but it’s a very exclusive decision.
Earlier this month, a memo provided to some University of Minnesota community members warned against Santa, Christmas trees, wrapped gifts and the colors “red and green,” calling them “not appropriate.”
In 2015, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Tennessee developed a list of “best practices,” telling the campus to “ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise.”
Over the years, The College Fix has reported how universities use terms such as “holiday trees” instead of Christmas trees.
What’s more, at one university in 2015, a student Christian a cappella group was not allowed to sing a song about Jesus at a campus tree-lighting ceremony. At another, the tree-lighting event was renamed to delete the word “Christmas” from its title.
There’s the time that a University of Central Florida professor suggested to her campus that they should stop saying “Merry Christmas,” and instead use the more inclusive “Happy Federal Holiday.”
Or the year that the University of Missouri’s Student Health Center administrators were so worried that seeing Christmas decorations might scar students they banished them.
In 2012, one college even forbid students from using the word “Christmas” to promote their Christmas tree sale to raise money for charity. That same year, the student government at UC Berkeley tried to ban Salvation Army bell ringers from campus.
This is just a portion of the political correctness run amok when it comes to Christmas kiboshing on college campuses. But what about the stories we never hear about? There are plenty more that don’t reach headline status.
MORE: Students want to ban song ‘White Christmas‘
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