No More Pigging Out

Every year across the nation, several Pi Beta Phi sorority chapters host all-you-can-eat “Pi Phiesta” taco bar fundraisers at their respective campuses to raise money for charity.

But that longstanding tradition, typically held around Cinco de Mayo, is in jeopardy.

In the past few weeks, pressure from a handful of Latino students at two high-profile universities who complained the events are offensive prompted dramatic changes to two “Pi Phiesta” fundraisers.

At Dartmouth College, the fundraiser was cancelled outright, and at Stanford University, the sorority girls scrapped their Mexican themed “Pi Phiesta” for a summery, ocean-themed one, although they still served tacos. 

The Dartmouth situation created national headlines, while the quick change at Stanford took place much more quietly.

Nevertheless, the future of “Pi Phiesta” fundraisers across the nation hang in the balance as the charitable tradition faces increased scrutiny from the politically correct campus police.

The real losers, however, are the nonprofit efforts these events help support; all-you-can-eat taco bars get lots of warm bodies through the doors.

These particular sorority charity events are hardly offensive, and if anything – they celebrate and honor Mexican heritage.

A YouTube video of a “Pi Phiesta” taco night last year shows a bunch of students stuffing their faces with tacos, smiling, and raising a wad of cash for literacy causes.

In the pictures on various Pi Beta Phi websites, one might see an occasional sombrero-donned student or some maracas among the bright yellow-orange decorations and neon-colored T-Shirts; hardly offensive.

Even though this is done for charity and without malicious intent is of no consequence to the handful of aggrieved militant Latino students on campuses.

They accuse such events of “cultural appropriation” – defined by the Stanford Daily as “actions that trivialize aspects of a culture by not respecting a custom’s symbolic significance or the history of a style of dress or other artifact.”

If that’s the case, maybe piñatas should be outlawed across America – because who cares about the glee those little twerps experience when they have candy rain down on them like rain? 

Are appropriating Mexican culture for their own joy, or for their own shame?