College cancels Cinco de Mayo amid ONE complaint

Student complains that decorations and foods used in festivities disrespect Latino and Mexican cultures

A state university in Massachusetts made the decision to cancel their Cinco de Mayo celebration after one student complained about the annual festivities.

Heat Street reports that a student at Framingham State University filed a report with the Bias Incident Response Team at the school on May 5 when members of the administration decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by putting up decorations and offering students a burrito bar at lunch.

'I feel as though whenever an event like this is taking place we go straight to stereotypes and it is EXTREMELY offensive!' wrote the student.

'If that were not enough on Cinco de Mayo the dining services team decides than in honor of a glorious victory against french colonizers in Mexico we should decorate the dinning [sic]commons. '

An hour later, the decorations were removed from the dining hall.


Among the decorations that the student took issue with were 'blow up chili peppers, pancho decorations, and donkey piñatas.'

The complaint also noted that there were other 'overtly racist and clearly ignorant decorations.'

The individual said he was equally angered by a similar celebration that had taken place weeks earlier when the Student Union Activities Board held a themed birthday party for the school's mascot Sam the Ram.

To promote that event a 'massive flyer had Sam in a sumbrero [sic] with Feliz Cumpleanos on it,' said the student.

There was also a burrito bar and even salsa lessons for the birthday festivities according to the complaint.

That burrito bar was brought in again for Cinco de Mayo, and even got a plug on social media.

The dining hall promoted the lunch special on their Instagram page earlier in the day, writing: 'Happy #CincoDeMayo! We have a Burrito Bar at the grill station in the Dining Commons! Get a beef burrito made just for you! Get beans or no beans; add cheese, onions, salsa, sour cream, peppers, and tomatoes!'


Offensive to Latinos

The post went on to let students know they could get more information about how to make their burrito healthy at the dining hall.



Sean Huddleston, (pictured above) who serves as chief diversity officer, passed along the student's complaint after his office received it on May 5 but did not tell the dining hall to take down any decorations.

That decision was made by Sodexo, the contractor who handles the food at the school, and they went a step further by offering to speak with students and start a dialogue about how to 'commemorate events such as this while being respectful to the particular ethnicity.'

Sam the Ram's birthday visual has also been changed from a sombrero to a yellow balloon.

Hudelston and his group later talked with the male student, who said he was speaking on behalf of Latinos at the college.

In a report released after their meeting, Hudelston told Sodexo: 'In the future, what [he] would like most (and on behalf of other Latino students) is for Sodexo and others who would like to honor and celebrate the culture (Mexican in this case) to consult with students, faculty and staff who identify as members of that culture prior to the celebrations.'

After the meeting, Huddleston wrote to colleagues, “For the record, ‘on behalf of all Latinos at FSU’ were [his] words. I do not believe that he can speak for them all. I reminded him of that.”

:smt105

 

No one dares be offended these days

 

You can't make this stuff up

I think you meant to say "to offend".

Btw...
Did you know there is a University (Emory) that has now banned chalk on the side-walk because a female student was traumatized when she came upon a chalk drawing of Trump? No lie.



She said she needed psychological assistance to feel safe. (now called "safe-places and spaces").
Soon after, more of sheeple our mentally-strong future-generation decided to be offended too..:-?

washingtonpost.emory.campus
From the article....

Someone wrote ‘Trump 2016’ on Emory’s campus in chalk. Some students said the yno longer feel safe.

... According to the student newspaper, the Emory Wheel, (the offended students) shouted in the quad,
“You are not listening! Come speak to us, we are in pain!”
and then students moved into the administration building calling out,
“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
(all this over "Trump chalked, mind you) :smt120
...
The story spread quickly, as media such as Reason mocked, “At Emory University, Writing ‘Trump 2016? on Sidewalk Is a Racist Microaggression …,” with references to students needing “trigger warnings” and “safe spaces” to protect them from presidential candidates’ names and slogans.
For many, it was another sign of college students being so overly sensitive that even political campaigning could be seen as hate speech."
...
************

What's more startling is, DePaul University decided to follow suit and banned it as well. :smt120
washingtontimes.com/depaul-bans-chalking-after-pro-trump-messages/

Here is the last paragraph of the article that summed it all UP...

"The main lesson here is the children — the students — are safe. They’re safe from any political messaging or viewpoints they may disagree with"

 

What in the actual fuck? :/

 

I agree with the Cinco de Mayo outcome. They should consult with Latino students when planning that kind of celebration. People are tired of having their cultures picked over and or turned into a characture.

But, this other thing with the Trump chalk drawing? Give me a break! That whole "safe places" thing is out of hand. It's college. You're supposed to have your ideals challenged while you're there. It's part of your educational experience.

I swear these kids, today, are soft as baby shit. Micro-agressions. ...lol

 

It isn't my culture, so I can't (or anyone who isn't latino in this forum) say much about it. I have no experience being a latino person. So, if they felt offended, then they were right to speak up about it.

 

Agreed.

(this also isn't a Latino forum)

 

Its funny until its aimed at you.

You shouldn't really decide on how someone should feel.

Then again you could be OK with being called nigger right?

 

Wait what? No reply smh

 

Don't wait what...!!!!

You know exactly what I'm saying. I'm very sure that 98% of Americans have not a clue about cinco de mayo but drinking time......

Like someone just said " characture" . Americans made it into a joke.....no different than the Mistral shows.

If anything know what it means instead doing just cause your friends want to get drunk.

I know i know "what about black on black crime"

 

How is offering a buritto bar in the cafeteria...and Salsa lessons....offensive to his culture? Furthermore, Sombrero and Pinatas are ceremoniously engaged by his culture.
It's a college, with a budget, extending a fun experience for the students.
But one party-pooper controlled and ruined everyone else's enjoyment.
I'm betting that every future event marking a celebration of a culture will now be forfeighted, because the risk is suddenly too high that inevitably ONE person will be offended over something. Good grief.

 

Like I said earlier......99% of Americans have no clue what 5de mayo historical meaning without googling. They just know to get drunk.

 

Let's get really real....I bet some of us thought taco bell was a Mexican telephone conpany

 

Americans? Try Mexicans, too. It's a day virtually IGNORED in Mexico. It was Americans who made it popular. It's not even a national holiday in Mexico, lol.
There is nothing offensive, the kid was being a dick and probably LHAO that it got cxld.

Even the WH had sombrero wearing performers.

 

Wtf is that supposed to mean?, lmao. Did you mean Mexican?
Cause there sure as hell are Black and White Latinos. SMH.

 

Wth?? Where was the part being called a derog Mexican insult in the story?.
Dude, comparing a burrito bar to the n word? Are you curazy?? :smt030 You need a margarita with me before they get banned!

 

Like I said "you and others and I wouldn't have a clue what cinco we mayo is without googling."

 

Exactly. That's why I just said no reply. That was a stupid ass bridge he built and I damn sure wasn't getting my black ass on it.

 

And you conservatives like shitting on other people.

Y'all take stuff from other cultures and shit on it and then ask why are you mad.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/cinco-de-mayo-beer-companies-advertizing-2011-5


How Beer Companies Turned A Minor Holiday Into America's Favorite Mexican Drinking Day




Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Independence Day, like many people think -- that would be September 16. Actually Cinco de Mayo is a minor holiday in Mexico, which celebrates a victory over the French at the Battle Of Puebla.

So why is it such a huge event in the U.S.?

Marketing of course.

The holiday gained popularity in the 1950's and 1960's because of The Good Neighbor policy, an effort to build a better relationship between Mexico and America, according to National Geographic.

But it really took off when beer companies got involved.

In the early 1980s, Anheuser-Busch and Miller Company created Hispanic Marketing departments and began sponsoring Cinco de Mayo celebrations, according to Norman K. Denzin's Studies In Symbolic Interaction. In 1989 a party sponsored by Anheurser-Busch turned into a drunken riot, and latino activists accused the company of "pushing a legalized drug upon our community."

Decades later the party remains a key means of marketing to the hispanic beer market. In 2009 beer companies spent $171-million on Spanish language advertising.