Blackface Skits Stir UC Irvine Furor

Members of two fraternities and a sorority at the University of California, Irvine, have apologized for performing musical skits in blackface during a Greek Week celebration last month.

Representatives of the two fraternities, Kappa Sigma and Phi Delta Theta, and the sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, met last week with members of the Black Student Union at UC Irvine to discuss the matter. Members of the fraternities and the sorority painted their faces black and lip-synched songs by the Jackson Five and Gladys Knight and the Pips as part of an event held each semester to recruit more members.

Joe Schuck, 22, president of Phi Delta Theta, confirmed that an apology was offered at the meeting. He said he had been surprised by the emotional reaction of the black students but could understand their feelings.

Jack Peltason, chancellor at UC Irvine, which has 347 blacks students out of a total student body of 14,064, said he believed the people involved in the activities “did it out of insensitivity rather than malice.”