AMHERST — An email warning students about making jokes about Harambe the gorilla led to a swift backlash online and much eye-rolling on the University of Massachusetts campus.
In a weekend email, student resident assistants at Sycamore Hall threatened to report Harambe jokes as sexual offenses against members of the school’s African-American community. Some social media users and online publications took that to mean the university had forbidden students to participate in what has become a crude cultural phenomenon.
University officials were quick to dispel that rumor Wednesday.
Harambe was a gorilla shot at the Cincinnati Zoo in May after a child ventured into the animal’s enclosure. The incident prompted Internet outrage, which spiraled into popularization of a phrase featuring male anatomy: “D—s out for Harambe.”
At UMass Amherst, however, Harambee (two e’s) is also the name of a residential African Heritage Program in the campus’s Coolidge Tower.
The RAs’ email, as shared on Twitter on Monday, urged care in writing messages on dormitory whiteboards, adding that use of popular phrases and hashtags “runs the risk of being reported as a Title IX incident.” Title IX is a federal law aimed at protecting against sexual discrimination.
“The floor has been in existence for many years, so any negative remarks regarding ‘Harambe’ will be seen as a direct attack to our campus’s African-American community,” read the shared message.
In his tweet of a screenshot of the RAs’ message, one Twitter user wrote: “My RA killed Harambe.”
The RAs’ message sparked a slew of tweets and blog posts needling UMass for censorship.
“#NonSexualAndNonGenderSpecificBodyPartsOutForTheGorillaWhoDiedInCincyThisSummer,” joked an author with the popular Twitter account, ZooMass.
Asked if the university would be addressing the students’ messages or the RAs’ email, school spokesman Daniel Fitzgibbons said, “There’s really nothing to address.”
“As an institution that values free speech and the exchange of ideas, UMass Amherst has not taken any steps to ban jokes or references about Harambe the gorilla,” spokesman Edward F. Blaguszewski said in a statement.
“The email sent by two well-intentioned undergraduate student resident assistants was a cautionary attempt to advise new students on their floor that the Harambe reference could be considered offensive to residents of the campus’s Harambee community, a residential program focused on African and African-American history and culture, and that all students should be treated with respect and civility,” Blaguszewski continued. “The resident assistants were upholding their responsibility to encourage an inclusive living environment for the students on their floor.”
Inspired by the Rita Marley song “Harambe,” the slain gorilla was named for the Swahili word that means “pulling together, caring.”
Eye rolls abounded when Gazette staffers went to the Southwest area of campus to ask students about the incident.
Kathryn McManus, 18, said the whole thing is silly and that her peers are taking the online trend too far.
“I just think it’s kids being stupid,” she said. “That’s just a weird way to show support.”
Students spoke to the popularity of the phrase that became widespread after a series of online videos, including ones posted by comedian Brandon Wardell.
“It’s just a fad that people aren’t over,” said Richard Goods, 20, who lives in a dorm in Southwest.
Goods, who is black, said people have thrown racist statements in his direction — drawing on the long history of using primate species as racial slurs — but this is something separate.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said, that anyone would call the references racist because of the Harambe residency program.
“It’s unrelated — it just happened to be his name,” he said. “I just think it’s funny.”
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.