Row over school's 'offensive' tickets

One of the tickets to the Mt Aspiring College school formal "after party" tomorrow which have...
One of the tickets to the Mt Aspiring College school formal "after party" tomorrow which have been withdrawn after complaints they were offensive. Photo by Marjorie Cook.
The Mt Aspiring College "after-party committee" was forced to withdraw 180 party tickets yesterday after school principal Wayne Bosley received a complaint the words "white supreeemacy" (sic) were offensive.

Mr Bosley confirmed he intervened yesterday afternoon as soon as he became aware of concerns the words were offensive to some parents and pupils.

He and a committee representative arranged for new tickets to be printed.

The replacements, with the words "the white out" instead, will be issued at a special meeting today.

Mr Bosley said the words were a "naive mistake" by pupils who had no intention to offend.

They were meant to refer to the after-party theme, where everything should be absolutely white, he said.

"They will wear white and the venue will be white. There was never any intention to give offence to anybody. [The pupil involved] didn't even give that consideration. It was a naive error," he said.

The after-party is being held at the Outlet and will follow the official college formal, at The Venue, Orchard Rd.

The after-party is not a school event and has been organised independently by pupils and the school council.

Mr Bosley said yesterday the school did not liaise closely with the committee over all the after-party arrangements, but did make sure the pupils went through agreed procedures, such as contacting police, obtaining parent support and putting safety measures in place.

All those steps had been taken and Mr Bosley was confident the after-party had been thoroughly organised and had community support.

"I admire the kids. They have gone to the nth-degree, gaining support from the police and many, many parents. They have gone to lengths to make it safe. It would be extremely unfortunate if this put a mark on it," Mr Bosley said.

Committee member Isy Harris (17) said she issued the tickets and had not intended to offend anybody.

She said the tickets had been shown to a guidance counsellor and the principal, but she felt "they probably didn't really read it or look at it quite hard".

She thought the mis-spelling of supremacy was a made-up word to indicate everything should be white.

In addition to reissuing tickets, a message would be placed in the school newsletter and an apology sent to the people who complained.

A Wanaka mother contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday complaining the words on the ticket had "no meaning other than a racial term".

The woman, who asked not to be identified, was flabbergasted by the tickets and concerned the school might be sanctioning the words on the ticket.

Later, she acknowledged the school had intervened to ensure the tickets would be reissued.

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