Colin Gerker, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, said the word “boujee” might be criticized for “appropriating culture.” He would not approve the event unless the fraternity changed the name.

“I want to continue empowering a culture of controversy prevention among [Greek] groups,” Gerker wrote. He advised them to “stay away from gender, culture, or sexuality for thematic titles.”

The students were perplexed.

A brief etymology, for those not familiar with “boujee”: The word originates with the Latin for castle or fortified town, “burgus.” This evolved into the French “bourgeois,” for people who live in town rather than the countryside. Town dwellers were more likely to engage in commerce and craftsmanship, and so rose over time to achieve middle-class incomes. That’s why Karl Marx later used the term to derisively refer to the class that upheld capitalism. Over time, “bourgeois” morphed into a more generic description of middle-class (and eventually upper-middle-class) materialism and obsession with respectability.