The International Festival (IF) Committee has apologized to the Chicano Caucus for an advertising slogan some Caucus members called insensitive to immigrant communities.
The slogan on the posters that were put up around campus read, "Meet the Aliens ... the legal ones."
The Caucus will meet today with members of Acción Latina and the International Consortium, which sponsored the festival, to arrange a lunch discussion about the situation.
The controversy comes during a period of heightened tension in the local Hispanic community, which has experienced several immigration raids in recent months.
"Try to understand why a phrase such as: 'come meet the aliens...the legal ones,' evokes unpleasant feelings of international student elitism, disgrace and disrespect for our hard-won rights as immigrants in this country, disregard for our immigrant ancestors, and a mockery of something so dear and poignant to us," Chicano Caucus president Juan Lopez '06 said in an email. "Again, my issue is not with the IF's harmless intentions but with their continued lack of sensibility and respect for our feelings and their continued attacks upon our response to their phrase."
The second annual International Festival, held Friday, showcased diverse cultural performances, films, food and exhibitions.
Members of the IF and the Chicano Caucus, contacted over the weekend, declined to comment.
Marek Hlavac '08 of the International Committee explained the origins of this slogan in an email he sent to the Chicano Caucus on Friday.
"We thought that people, after hearing 'Meet the Aliens,' would first think of extraterrestrial aliens and be surprised," he said. "We added ' ... the legal ones' to suggest that we are dealing with students and not extraterrestrial beings. We thought this was a funny and eye-catching slogan. We did not realize the other connotation of this slogan, however — that it could instead mean 'legal' as opposed to 'illegal' rather than 'extraterrestrial.' "
According to an email Lopez sent to Chicano Caucus members, the interaction between the groups began when the IF committee emailed the Chicano Caucus requesting they advertise the International Festival Film Series with the phrase. Lopez responded saying the slogan was "politically incorrect" and would not help with advertising.
The IF committee proceeded to advertise with the fliers in Cotsen Children's Library to invite the greater Princeton community to attend the festival.
According to Hlavac's email, the committee retracted the phrase from the fliers after an employee at the library told the committee the fliers were inappropriate and possibly offensive.
In the Chicano Caucus email, however, the members claim that former president Juan Gonzalez '06 saw another flier with the initial slogan on it after it was supposed to have been taken off.
Exchanges between the IF committee and the Chicano Caucus continued throughout the week, with angry statements from both sides.
Members of Ballet Folklórico threatened to boycott the festival but agreed to appear once they were assured an apology by the committee.
The Chicano Caucus also took issue with Acción Latina, which declined to voice objection to the slogan.
Lopez later apologized for some of his comments during the exchange, saying he had "come to realize that not all internationals are arrogant and elitist. Also, I really enjoyed your International Festival."
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