ACADEMIC BROWNSHIRTS ON PARADE: UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

No shortage of entries for this series, is there?

The latest example of Academic Brownshirts On Parade is from the University of Denver…where, if you are celebrating Cinco de Mayo, you are being warned not to look Mexican.

From Eric Owens’ article at dailycaller.com:

A high-level administrator at the University of Denver issued a stern warning on Thursday advising all 12,000 students not to wear fake mustaches on Cinco de Mayo.

The school official, Liliana Rodriguez, instructed students in a campus-wide email that wearing fake mustaches on Cinco de Mayo is “dehumanizing” to Hispanic culture and its traditions, reports Campus Reform.

“As we celebrate, some of us may — unintentionally I would hope — choose activities that ‘appropriate’ specific cultures,” Rodriguez, whose title is vice chancellor of campus life and inclusive excellence, lectured.

“To be clear, cultural appropriation is when people adopt or use aspects of a culture when they are not members of that culture. This is a controversial thing,” Rodriguez also wrote.

In addition to fake mustaches, Rodriguez ranted, wearing sombreros on Cinco de Mayo is also patently “offensive.”

The University of Denver vice chancellor admitted that wearing fake mustaches and donning sombreros is not illegal and does not violate any policy at the $58,443-per-year private school.

“But it is disrespectful,” Rodriguez pontificated. It is an extension of racism. It is dehumanizing and insulting to many. It is not kind.”

Does Ms. Rodriguez express the same level of concern if students wear green on St. Patrick’s day?  Or a Santa hat during the Christmas season?  I’m betting not.

I wonder how she feels about Mexican students wearing similar clothing on campus for Cinco de Mayo….oh, wait, they wouldn’t be appropriating their culture, that would be their culture, so I guess it’s OK.

On the other hand, wouldn’t that mean if they wear anything else they are appropriating a non-Mexican culture, and therefore being offensive?

Has she banned students from eating at Taco Bell?  Walk into any of its restaurants and you’ll see that it does Mexican-themed stuff all the time.

In fact, here is its latest promotion, which – i’m not kidding, folks –  promises to turn your head into a Cinco de Mayo taco:

 

Is this in poor enough taste for Ms. Rodriguez (besides the potentially poor taste of the taco itself, that is)?  If so, when does she warn students — uh, make that non-Mexican students – against eating there?

Y’know, maybe this is just silly.  Maybe Liliana Rodriguez is engaging in a childish, politically correct little game in which she – without objection from the school itself, it seems – tries to force her personal view regarding what is offensive on others.

D’ya think?

Oh, one other thing:  also in this article:

Last year, Mexican student Dani Marrero, who grew up in Texas and went to college in Boston, instructed all Americans that it’s wrong to shorten the word guacamole or wear ponchos in the course of Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

“Stop calling guacamole ‘guac,’” Marrero demanded, because the word guacamole “has significance as it comes from indigenous Nahuatl language, so please make the effort to pronounce it in its entirety.” 

I have to admit this is a new one on me.  I thought calling it “guac” was just a convenient contraction of the full word…like saying you’re “calc-ing” a math issue instead of calculating it.

I’ll ask the next offended Nahuatl-speaking person I meet about it.

Academic Brownshirts.  It’s getting harder and harder not to remove that second “r”.