By Ilana Berger

At October 29’s NYU Law Fall Ball in Vanderbilt Hall, some students felt that certain Halloween decorations were offensive and disturbing.

According to the Washington Post, the Mental Health Law and Justice Association (MHLJA) and the Latino Law Students Association (LaLSA) each addressed a letter of complaint to the Directors of the NYU Law Office of Student Affairs, Dean Jason Belk, and NYU’s Law school, Dean Trevor Morrison.

The letters said that Fall Ball featured projections of a silhouetted man committing suicide, as well as “violence against women and interpersonal violence.” The two student organizations expressed outrage at the fact that the projections were put on display, and felt that they were deeply upsetting and triggering to those in the community suffering from mental illness. They also asked the Office of Student Affairs to issue an apology.

Yesterday, the NYU Law Office of Student Affairs responded to the letters.

“We agree that some of the imagery at this year’s Fall Ball was inappropriate and it won’t be used again,” said NYU Public Affairs Director, Michael Orey, on behalf of the Office of Student Affairs. “Our dean of students is always accessible for members of our student community to raise concerns and he will be meeting with those who did so in this matter.”

Although the Office of Student Affairs admitted their mistake, the incident poses important questions, some that are difficult to answer. In his Washington Post opinion piece, Eugene Volokh criticized the students who wrote the letters, asking, “why would anyone want to hire lawyers that are so fragile?”

Mr. Volohk seems to have forgotten that he answered that question in the first sentence of his article, pointing out that NYU is one of the top 6 law schools in the nation. Why wouldn’t anyone want to hire a lawyer who went to NYU Law? And who says that someone who is sensitive to other’s needs, or has experienced mental illness can’t be a successful lawyer?

On the other hand, the point of Halloween is to showcase disturbing images. On this night, it might be reasonable to expect that people go out prepared to see gruesome things that might make them uncomfortable.

It might be helpful to consider the steps that both sides would have had to take in order to avoid conflict. The person struggling with mental illness might have had to leave the party, or stay and ‘suck it up’ at the risk of emotional and sometimes even physical distress. Those in charge of decorations would have had to simply give up their scariest visions for the night, and censor their creativity. Who has it worse?

Censorship is a dangerous, slippery, slope, and it is impossible to know exactly what might trigger someone. The only sure way to prevent that would be to disallow anything that might in some way offend someone else. Then again, everyone should have the right to feel safe and comfortable at a school function.

The moral of the story is that it is always better to err on the safe side and generally be wary of suicide imagery. If there is any suspicion that something as trivial as a Halloween decoration could cause so much trouble, it would be best to forgo it.

[Image via NYU Law Magazine]