'Can Santa Claus Be A Black Man?' Billboard Removed At IU-Bloomington

A billboard asking "Can Santa Claus be a black man?" was removed after sparking controversy at the Indiana University Bloomington campus, WTHR reports.

The billboard was placed near the entrance of the Foster Quad residence hall, according to IPM:

IU Spokesperson Mark Land says staff and students from IU’s CommUNITY Education Program hoped the board would provoke discussion about racial stereotyping. He says while good intentions fostered the project’s creation, its execution missed the mark.

“If you didn’t know any of the context—you just saw the bulletin board—it looked like someone had created a poster that had very negative stereotypes about African Americans,” he says.

The boards also asked whether Santa would only visit the ghetto if he were black, and whether people ever played with a black Barbie doll. Another asked if a black Santa would steal presents.

After students began discussing the board on social media, IU took them down and offered some explanatory tweets on Tuesday:

The university also plans to host a discussion about race issues in light of the controversial billboard.