Who would have thought a tortilla could cause so much chaos?! I'm sorry, but this story is hilarious, no matter what side of the border you're from. Apparently the University of Arizona has this unwelcome tradition of throwing tortillas during commencement.
UA limits December grad ceremony
Tortilla toss may be cause, student body president says
By Inger Sandal
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
There will be no universitywide commencement ceremony for undergraduates at the UA this December, over the strong objection of student and alumni groups.
UA Student Body President Alistair Chapman said he believes the underlying motivation is tortillas, which - when spinning through the air at commencement - have confounded the administration and drawn protesters in recent years.
(...)
Likins had warned in May 2003 that he would consider canceling the campuswide commencement if tortillas continue to be tossed.
"Unless our peculiar practice of throwing tortillas ceases, we may be obliged to cancel future all-university commencement ceremonies, leaving our graduation celebrations to the individual colleges," Likins wrote.
Chapman, who is part of the committee that was formed within the past year at Likins' request, said: "The word 'tortilla' dominated our conversation for three months. This seems to be the core reason behind the cancellation of the commencement."
The tortillas continued to fly. But Chapman said a video from the May 2004 commencement showed most of the tortillas were thrown from the audience. He said he believes security at the doors, similar to that at basketball games, would eliminate that problem and is needed anyway for a crowd of 14,000.
Ray Siqueiros, the high school teacher who organized silent protests against the practice of throwing tortillas at the UA for a couple of years, said he didn't know how much the tortilla-throwing influenced the change, but he would have preferred community discussions to end the practice.
Silent protests? Conversations about tortillas? Full body searches, looking for contraband tortillas? Ok, everyone get this, this whole controversy is over TORTILLAS! How crazy is that?! Now the real story I want to read is why tortillas and why not wheat crackers or pita bread, no one eats those anyway.
Warning: May rattle nerves
Ok, so I dug up this article from May, in it students talk about the tortilla flinging, the President Peter Likins talks about the practice.
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
"These are intelligent young men and women who are graduating from our university," Likins said. "They're not deliberately giving offense. They're just having fun."
But Likins said the fun should end when it is at the expense of others.
The practice of throwing tortillas during the ceremony offends people, he said, especially people of certain ethnic groups.
"In some people's memories, tossing the tortillas is a historic slur. It's stereotyping the Mexican-American community in ways that some people find offensive," Likins said.
He said the airborne tortillas unnerve speakers who are unfamiliar with the practice, and embarrass the university because it is a "childish" and wasteful act that graduating students should stop.
"For some speakers, it's just not a problem. ... But for other speakers, it's unimaginable," Likins said. "You feel like you're getting tomatoes thrown at you when you're trying to deliver a speech. You don't know quite how to handle that."
Likins said he found the act amusing back in 1997 but has since realized that the practice is offensive to the Mexican and American Indian community.
Socorro Carrizosa, director of Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, said she does not like the practice because it is wasteful and reflects poorly on the attitudes of the students at the UA.
Graduating communication senior Lizz Bozorgmehr said she does not think the practice is rude or offensive unless it's deliberately demeaning.
"I would think it's a form of celebration," she said. "If they threw baguettes, would the French people get mad?"
Madness. I'm Mexican-Latina-Chicana-Hispandex-etc and I'm not offending by all the tortilla flinging. Now if it is a danger or could cause someone to lose an eye, then yes that's bad, please stop it now. I remember at my high school graduation we were warned and told many times not to throw our graduation caps up in the air after the ceremony. Seriously, if we got caught our diplomas would not be mailed to us, and we would have to go through all sorts of trouble to get it. See what they gave us on stage when we walked was a blank diploma, so if anyone misbehaved, bah, no diploma for you!
CJ at 9/10/2004
Comments:
Next we will have the Bush administration declaring that tortillas are WMD and the US will be forced to invade Mexico. Strager things have happened...
Hahaha..you got something there, Mexico better watch out, there are next on the hit list.
The only reason I would take offense to this is if I found out that the reason this tradition started in the first place was offensive. I'm not as sensitive as most, but I remember at UT during Texas Independance Day, a local frat dressed up as "Texans" and "Mexicans" and the Texans would chase the drunken Mexicans (who were carrying bottles of tequila) and shoot them. Now, to many this seemed funny - but, it really was pretty offensive.
Anyway, if I went to UA and my family went to a graduation where they threw tortillas, you could bet they'd take plenty of extra bags to store them up for use later at the pachanga.
The tortilla flying idea definitely came from some hippie used to going to Phish shows. This is from Phisharchive.com:
There was a slight pause after "Dog Faced Boy", and then Phish danced into the title track from the newly issued Round Room. The instant the first notes hit, tortillas began flying though the air. We don't know who organized this or how they organized it since so many tortillas began flying from so many different directions at once. As Mark pointed out, "I didn't get that memo." Regardless, "Round Room" was delivered with bounce and verve and got the crowd thrilled. Like "Mock Song", "Round Room" is a Gordon composition, which involves some treacherous changes within transcendent chords. At the same time the song exudes a Gothic joy.
- Oso
Aha! So the Phish people are the ones who started it all, thanks for the link and research!
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