Offensive Halloween costumes won't get passing grade at McGill

Image | Halloween pumpkin jack o lantern

Caption: McGill's student union is holding its annual 4Floors Halloween party Thursday night. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP)

McGill University is taking a proactive approach to making sure its students don’t offend anyone with their Halloween costumes.
Thursday, the Students’ Society of McGill University is holding its big 4Floors Halloween party(external link) — and organizers are vowing to turn anyone away with a costume it deems offensive.

Image | Daniel Chaim

Caption: Claire Stewart-Kanigan, vice-president of university affairs of the Students' Society of McGill University and Daniel Chaim, vice-president of internal, are taking offensive Halloween costumes seriously this year. (Shari Okeke/CBC)

CBC Daybreak reporter Shari Okeke spoke with student leaders Nicholas Szczerbickyj, Daniel Chaim and Claire Stewart-Kanigan about their firm approach to weeding out controversial costumes.
They explained that people working the door at the party will have a colour-coding system to approve — or reject — costumes. Green gets in, red gets turned away and yellow means they’re having trouble deciding, or that the person in costume doesn’t realize their get-up may be offensive.
That’s where it gets complicated. If student union vice-president Chaim and two other chairpeople can’t decide, they will consult two equity commissioners, meaning five opinions will come into play.
Listen to Shari Okeke’s story for more on the McGill students’ approach to Halloween.