Clemson Thematic Food Event Shut Down by One Silly Tweet
Mexican food night was too hot for one Clemson University student to handle, and the unidentified Tiger’s tweet complaining that it was insensitive was all it took to end a campus tradition. Maximum Mexican night was just one of several thematic events put on by the South Carolina school’s dining service throughout the academic year.
But no one complained about other themes, including Low Country BBQ Bash, where students were invited to “pick up a plate of mighty fine fixins,” according to Campus Reform. Only the Mexican food event, at which staff wore sombreros and served up south-of-the-border cuisine, drew the condemnation of a Twitter busybody who used the hashtag #CulturallyInsensitive.
“What’s next? Are they going to take away all potato based food as to not offend students from Irish descent?”
– Clemson senior Austin Pendergist
“What’s next?” Clemson senior Austin Pendergist said. “Are they going to take away all potato-based food as to not offend students from Irish descent?”
The university administration apologized in a statement, saying “We failed to live out our mission yesterday,”and calling the presentation a “flattened cultural view of Mexican culture.”
“In the future, University Housing & Dining welcomes the opportunity to work with Hispanic and Latino campus groups as well as community members, staff and faculty to better celebrate the food and culture of this region and better educate the Clemson community,” officials said in the statement.
Most students seem to think the the apology was about as warranted as telling University of South Carolina’s football team they’re sorry for the 35-17 beatdown the Tigers handed the arch rival Gamecocks last year.
“This is something that Clemson Dining has done for years without any sort of backlash,” Pendergist said. “People love the cultural nights in the dining halls, when does it end?”