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.”
Halloween costumes also really bother Rodriguez, she complained.
“As an ally, I also am offended by all the variety of ways that other cultures are appropriated throughout the year — for Halloween and other themed parties.”
Rodriguez noted that she that realized her whining about fake mustaches in a campus-wide email would elicit “groans” from the multitude of students who received it.
The University of Denver enrolls about 12,000 students.
Each year, on or around May 5, self-appointed progressive overlords at colleges and universities across America issue stern warnings to students about how to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
At the University of California, Davis, for example, the campus newspaper issued a steely edict this week warning to students that drinking too much to celebrate the holiday is a form of racist cultural appropriation. Also, the student newspaper said, anyone celebrating must spend time learning about the intricacies of “Chicanx/Latinx culture.” (RELATED: Students Warned Against Racist Sombreros, Tequila On Cinco De Mayo)
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.” (RELATED: Latina Student: Shortening The Word Guacamole Is Offensive To Mexicans)
Such complaints about racist cultural appropriation are in no way restricted to Cinco de Mayo.
In October, after receiving complaints, officials at Clemson University swiftly apologized for serving Mexican food during a food-themed “Maximum Mexican” night in campus cafeterias. (RELATED: Taxpayer-Funded University Apologizes For Offending Mexicans By SERVING TACOS)
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