Just as people in general can't resist a good rhyme or a satisfying pun, neither can fraternities pass on a catchy theme party that typically pits one stereotype against another (divided between men and women). Every few weekends, another one (only counting those that reach the news) is investigated for possible biases. The latest was a "CMT vs. BET" party at McDaniel College, a smallish liberal arts college in Maryland, Campus Reform reported.

Like most fraternity bashes, the one thrown by Phi Sigma Sigma and Phi Delta Theta was private and not directly affiliated with the school (though smaller schools like McDaniel usually have more school-fraternity involvement), according to the McDaniel Free Press. Still, Greek events must still comply with college guidelines, as per rules explained in the Handbook:

"Greek organizations must meet with all social event policy guidelines in accordance with their respective governing council and all events must be registered in order to be considered sanctioned."

According to Black Student Union (BSU) President, Serena Hueitt, the fraternity might have guessed their party wasn't going to gain school approval. They didn't register the proper paperwork beforehand.

"The BSU is trying to change the way others view people of African-American descent," Heuitt told the McDaniel Free Press. "and dressing up seems to play into the stereotypes of people of African-American descent. I don't think it's right to do that."

Like many fraternity presidents have clarified before him, Dominic Seelig, President of McDaniel's Phi Delta Theta chapter, contended that it was not his group's intention to offend.

"Phi Delt is especially diverse," he said. "The people in my fraternity would never do that because they'd be offended first."

Currently, the school is only investigating the party; they haven't penalized the fraternity/sorority responsible, Seelig pointed out. He also mentioned that while his organization has used this party theme before (without incident), their other ones have been more plain, like sports, letters of the alphabet, and so forth.