Clemson students hosting a "Cripmas" party.

The Clemson University chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity has suspended "all activity" and most of the chapter's officers have resigned after what the university called "an inappropriate theme party organized by several of its members at a private, off-campus residence." White students dressed as gang members at the "Cripmas party." The event sparked widespread backlash from some on social media, and Clemson University President Jim Clements said it raised concerns about the campus racial climate.

“We had a very healthy, good, positive discussion this morning that lasted a couple of hours. We had a chance to share a lot of ideas and really talk about creating an environment where students respect each other and value each other,” said Clements.

The theme of the party was "Living the Dream," but some Clemson students are calling it a nightmare. Pictures of the party were posted on facebook.com, showing at least one person in black-face paint, with others dressed in knitted caps and jerseys and some girls with stuffing padding their pants to make their behinds look larger. There's an image of party-goers holding 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor.

.......Remember: Clemson was founded on plantation land by a plantation owner’s son-in-law who was so influenced by Benjamin Tillman--a US Senator that did some cool stuff for agriculture, I guess, but who was directly responsible for a lot of white supremacist legislature and a vocal proponent of Lynch Laws and Jim Crow--that he made him a chairman of the (then) college and named the clock tower after him. You know the clock tower. It's that pretty red brick building you see on all the commercials and postcards and paintings. Do you see what I’m saying? Respect for Black students isn’t in Clemson’s culture. It wasn’t there from the very beginning, and many of the non-Black students that the school attracts act accordingly. This bigotry was put in between the brick and mortar of Tillman Hall itself. It is a vicious cycle of hate and iniquity that dies with every graduation ceremony and is reborn with each incoming freshman class. Jim Clements thinks that Clemson is “better than this,” but is it? Is it really? Because this seems to keep happening, and it’s not those same kids from 2007 that are making it so.

For what it's worth, black students only make up 6% of students at Clemson, but account for 78% of student athletes. Let's hope something good will come from this latest incident and that it will be catalyst for real change at Clemson University.