Dartmouth College, the lily-white investment banking camp of the Ivy League, prides itself on its purposely insular and routinely violent fraternities. These two features magically combined last month when Animal House inspiration Alpha Delta decided to throw an enormous “Bloods and Crips”-themed party. Now they’re very, very, very sorry.

Dartmouth gossip blog Dartblog just published a July 26 invitation sent by Alpha Delta’s social chairman, warning students to “choose wisely” when deciding to dress up as a member of either Los Angeles street gang. (Surprisingly, the invitation’s author grew up in suburban Massachusetts and plays golf.) Campus sorority Delta Delta Delta pitched in some party supplies, and over 200 students showed up to get schwaysted.

Alpha Delta is no sub-tier house. A month prior to the gang kegger, house alum Phil Hanlon became the 18th President of Dartmouth. (We’ve emailed his office for comment.)

In an email to Dartblog—three weeks after the party took place—Alpha Delta “collectively” apologized for the party’s theme:

Alpha Delta hosted a “Bloods and Crips Party” on the night of Friday, July 26th. The idea was never meant to be derogatory to any group, and was intended to introduce a costume theme to the party. While there was never any ill intent in the party’s theme, the brothers of Alpha Delta now realize that it was insensitive and thoughtless to make light of a very serious issue that affects many people nationwide, particularly young people. Gang violence is obviously an incredibly serious problem across America, and while we as a house failed to preemptively recognize the offensive nature of the party’s theme, the gravity of our oversight is now apparent to us.

You might think that admission to Dartmouth or any of its elite peers would require a minimal awareness that pretending to affiliate oneself with a black street gang for a kegger is, to quote Alpha Delta later in their apology, “objectively offensive.” You would be wrong.

[Dartblog | Photo via Kane5187]