About Face: Marquette Accepts “Christmas Tree”

It was just what one would expect of a politically correct university (although not of a genuinely Catholic university): describing a Christmas tree as merely a “tree,” as Marquette did when it announced a tree lighting taking place yesterday afternoon.

Our Sunday night post on this was quickly picked up on social media, and also by Charlie Sykes, who discussed it yesterday (Monday) morning. Here is Sykes:



Then, all of a sudden, announcements from Marquette of the event suddenly began to include the word “Christmas.”

There was an e-mail, dated Monday at 3:17 p.m. that announced the “Annual Christmas Tree lighting ceremony.”

And sometime yesterday an announcement on “Marquette Today,” first posted on November 21, was updated to say that the ceremony is “tonight.” The other change? The inclusion of the word “Christmas.” Here is the blurb on “Marquette Today” as it appeared on Sunday afternoon, and here is the way it appeared when we saved the page as a PDF today.

Somebody forgot to sanitize the University calendar, however, since today the entry still omits “Christmas” just as it did on Sunday.

How Did it Happen?

It would be nice to know who first decided that a Christmas tree could not be called a “Christmas Tree.” But Mary Janz, Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life (the office that oversees the Residence Hall Association, which sponsored the event), has not responded to a request for an explanation of the policy, who made it, and how it was made.

Likewise, University spokesman Brian Dorrington did not immediately respond to a request for a statement about the change of policy that allowed “Christmas.”

The banning of “Christmas Tree” probably did not come from top University officials. More likely, some Residence Life official decided that “Christmas Tree” was not sufficiently “inclusive.” But that is the problem. The campus bureaucracy is dominated by the kind of people who define “inclusive” as requiring the exclusion of things explicitly Christian.

And these are the people who make most of the day-to-day decisions.

Update

A woman posting a comment on the Badger Catholic blog said the following:

I attend Marquette and this is the actual text from the E-mail we received, “Reminder: Residence Hall Association to hold annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony tonight

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

The Residence Hall Association will hold its annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, “Igniting Hope,” on Monday, Nov. 28, at 5 p.m. in Westowne Square. The ceremony will include speakers, performances and the tree lighting. A reception, including musical performances, crafts and snacks, will follow from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the AMU Monaghan Ballrooms.

This, of course, is the November 21 post on “Marquette Today” that has been modified with “Christmas” added. Here, again, is the original November 21 post.

Marquette, after our story broke, appears to have been aggressively e-mailing people with the version of the announcement that includes “Christmas.”

Marquette Won’t Call a Christmas Tree a “Christmas Tree”

We blundered onto this announcement on the Marquette website:

Residence Hall Association to hold annual tree lighting ceremony

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

The Residence Hall Association will hold its annual tree lighting ceremony, “Igniting Hope,” on Monday, Nov. 28, at 5 p.m. in Westowne Square. The ceremony will include speakers, performances and the tree lighting. A reception, including musical performances, crafts and snacks, will follow from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the AMU Monaghan Ballrooms.

Let’s see: a tree with lights, being lighted in late November. What is it? Obviously a Christmas tree.

And what is missing from the above news blurb? The word “Christmas.”

Maybe somewhere else is an announcement calling this a “Christmas tree,” but the only other one we could find for this event omits “Christmas” also.

What about previous years? It seems the similar event for 2015 also omits “Christmas.” Sorry we missed blogging about that.

But every year before that seems to happily include the word “Christmas.” For example, the same event for 2014 uses “Christmas tree” and “Christmas season.” Here is another announcement for the 2014 event.

And the same event announcement for 2013 uses “Christmas tree.” This goes way back. We quickly found announcements for a “tree lighting ceremony” that was “in celebration of Christmas” for 2007, and a “Christmas tree lighting ceremony” for 2009.

So apparently, in 2015, Marquette decided that a Christmas tree was politically incorrect.

Mary Janz, Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life, did not immediately respond to a request for an explanation of this change of policy, who made it, and how it was made.

War on Christmas

Whether a Christmas tree can be called a “Christmas tree” has been a staple of the Culture Wars over the last few decades. At the nation’s Capitol, the National Christmas Tree somehow got renamed the the “Holiday Tree” in the 1990s, but when Republican Dennis Hastert was elected Speaker of the House, he got the tree returned to its original name. Fox News noted:

Calling a Christmas tree a Christmas tree has become a politically charged prospect in jurisdictions across the country, from Boston to Sacramento and in dozens of communities in between. The city of Boston changed the name of its Holiday Tree back to Christmas Tree after being threatened with several lawsuits.

While the political correctness has trapped some communities into taking the Christianity out of Christmas in order to accommodate the minority of Americans who don’t celebrate the holiday, the White House continues to call its tree a Christmas Tree.

That “diversity” and “inclusion” require censoring and silencing all things Christian is a typical attitude of the politically correct. Of course, this is not “inclusive,” but rather exclusionary.

Genuine inclusion would mean recognizing the diversity of religious beliefs and traditions. The National Menorah, on public property just south of the White House, is an example. If Muslim students at Marquette wanted to stage events to celebrate Ramadan they would certainly be allowed to by Marquette (although Ramadan is usually in the summer with few students around).

But Christianity is different. Secular leftists don’t much like Christianity.

Generic “Holiday” Greetings Are Offensive

From a sensible column in the Journal-Sentinel:

Merry Christmas. That’s right, I said it and in a family newspaper no less. I know the politically correct police are running to the nearest ACLU-friendly judge to get a cease and desist order against me, but I’ll say it again. Merry Christmas, and I hope you had a happy Hanukkah as well.

I’m not sure when the Christ-ophobic activists and judges decided that “Merry Christmas” was an obscene phrase that should be banned. I vaguely remember priests, ministers and bus placards urging us to keep Christ in Christmas. Then one day, I looked around and found we’re not even allowed to keep Christmas in Christmas. Instead, we’re given a “season’s greetings” as if winter was a good enough reason to make merry!

Father Bill Kurz, a professor at Marquette University and nationally known author, thinks the constant tinkering so as not to offend is overdone.

“It’s possible to get so open-minded that one’s brains fall out,” he said.

My old radio buddy, Bill Edwards, a staunch Hanukkah fan, agreed with Kurz.

He doesn’t see how anybody could be offended by someone’s wish for your happiness.

“Let’s just say being holiday PC isn’t kosher,” Edwards said. Edwards is more than happy to accept a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Kwanzaa” from any well-wisher.

Speaking of Kwanzaa, one of Milwaukee’s favorite speed skaters, Olu Sijuwade, took time out from racing to give me his feelings on the holiday debate.

“Kwanzaa is not a religious celebration; it’s a celebration of culture,” he told me.

“It’s purposely put after Hanukkah and Christmas so you can celebrate all three if you want to.” He didn’t think anyone who loves Kwanzaa who would be offended by getting a “Merry Christmas.”

As for the more generic “Happy holidays,” that actually does seem to offend.

“I got an e-mail from a viewer who turned off the Holiday Parade because it wasn’t called the Christmas Parade,” said Ted Perry of WITI-TV (Channel 6). “We didn’t call it that. That’s what the organizers called it. She just couldn’t watch it.”

How odd. In the attempt to offend nobody, the holiday-phobes actually have upset everybody! Well, let me fix that: Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and happy Kwanzaa to all!