(Nov. 6) -- The pictures shocked the campus -- two students at Northwestern University in Chicago cavorting at a Halloween party in blackface.
The images prompted such an outcry that university officials held a forum on racial issues Thursday. More than 600 students and staff attended, according to The Daily Northwestern, the college's student newspaper.
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The controversy began when one student reportedly dressed as Bob Marley by painting his body black and donning a T-shirt that read "Jamaica," NBC Chicago said. Another student appeared as a black woman and carried a tennis racket, the NBC affiliate reported. Their photos appeared on Facebook.
Blackface "still says you don’t belong in ways that are echoed throughout our society today, both off-campus and on," Professor Sandra Richards said in The Daily Northwestern. She teaches African-American studies and theater.
Student reactions have been mixed, NBC Chicago said.
"[I] have to realize I'm in a place where some people might not understand that something like blackface is not appropriate," student Julia Haskins told the station.
While the pictures created a tempest at Northwestern, they didn't violate any campus codes, according to Chicago's WGN.
"The students, using very poor judgment, did not break any rules," a station reporter said, quoting Northwestern officials.
