Is "Gypsy" a racially offensive term? Not to a lot of people who call themselves that.

 Northern State University's homecoming celebration is called Gypsy Days.  Administrators recently responded to the objections of some students and outside groups to the Gypsy motif and decided to call the homecoming something else.  The administration asked for reactions from the alumni and, apparently, received overwhelming objections to changing the motif, so  then it announced it would not change the name of the homecoming.

For some years, I was adviser to the Northern student publications, and at one point some of the staff was curious about how Northern came to use the Gypsy imagery.  They poured over past copies of the student newspaper and yearbook and asked some of the senior faculty.  The explanation they received was that the University of South Dakota has its Dakota Days, a historical theme; South Dakota State University has the Hobo Days theme; and Northern students chose the Gypsy theme.  The idea was to have a homecoming theme based on the  periodic gathering together of people who are related and joined together by tradition.  Gypsies were known to have such gatherings to which participants traveled from afar to attend the occasion.  (You can read an account of a Gypsy gathering here.)

Current students at Northern said the use of the term Gypsy is a racial slur.  They seem to equate it with the N-word.  It does not have the kind of history the N-word has, however.  The word Gypsy descends from a middle English word for Egyptian.  People in that time thought the nomadic people they encountered came from Egypt.  Most of those Eurasian nomads they encountered called themselves Romany people, and in their migration to Europe, they did come through Egypt.  One of the current errors about Gypsies is that they all prefer to call themselves Romani.  They don't.  Many bands have different identifying histories, but do share the nomadic way of life.  And they call themselves what best identifies their particular history.

The word Gypsy is regarded as a pejorative in some quarters, but largely by people who aren't Gypsies.  Some Gypsies object to  being referred to as Romi.  The NSU administration decided to stay with a school tradition in keeping Gypsy Days, because there has not been any history of disrespect or stereotyping in its use.   Sports fans of the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins mock Indians when they do a silly tomahawk chopping gesture which is a disparagement of the Native American culture.  Aside from some ceremonies in which a few people don some colorful Gypsy dress as they crown the homecoming king and queen, there has been no mocking imitation or minstrelsy of Gypsy culture at NSU.

Another factor is that numerous organizations identify themselves with the Gypsy name.  A directory of organizations in English-speaking countries lists the following:

National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups

The Gypsy Union 

Gypsy Lore Society

Association of Gypsies/Romani International, Inc.

National Gypsy Council 

Gypsy Council for Education, Culture, 

   Welfare and Civil Rights

Gypsy Traveller Health Information Service 

National Association of Gypsy Women 

National Gypsy Council 

Gypsy Heritage Centre 

Gypsy Association of Women 

The question facing the NSU administration is if the tradition of Gypsy Days has been belittling, disrespectful, racist, and if it has been harmful to the Gypsy people.  It obviously came up with a compelling lack of such evidence in deciding to continue with the tradition.  The point of homecoming is to gather former students together to reunite, continue friendships, and  contemplate the bonds they share with the college and fellow alumni.  Ethnic groups have social traditions that celebrate a rebonding of people to each other.  For example, the Sons of Norway promote such reenactments as a way of keeping alive their heritage.

In a time when diversity on campuses is a major concern, it would seem that the elimination of cross-cultural sharing, particularly of positive traditions, would be counter-productive.

The "Gathering of the Gypsies" is a tradition that grew out of the defamation, discrimination, and oppression that the people who call themselves Gypsies had to survive.  It seems a good tradition to explore and emulate, not to abandon.

A Gathering of the Gypsies at the Appleby Fair in England.  It draws 10,000 Gypsies to celebrate their tradition of gathering and renewing their bond to each other.