Illustration by Arnie Bermudez

With last week's announcement of the cancellation of the December graduation ceremony for undergraduates by the Commencement Policy Committee, the debate over UA's tradition of celebrating graduation with a mass tortilla tossing has risen once again.

For those of you unfamiliar with the tradition, it basically consists of flinging countless tortillas into the air like Frisbees in celebration during commencement. OK, so maybe it's not the grandest tradition, but seeing that many tortillas flying through the air is still quite a sight.

To most, it seems like a relatively harmless way to celebrate. However, there are many who regard this traditional tortilla toss as an overt act of disrespect to Mexican and American Indian culture.

I recall at both of the commencement ceremonies I have attended, there was a small group of protesters who marched through McKale Center during the ceremony, carrying signs that told every one of their feelings of disrespect regarding these tortillas.

They seemed very impassioned about the issue, which I respect. I'm all about the peaceful protests and promoting cultural awareness. But come on. This is ridiculous. It's just a lousy tortilla! If we're going to get upset over this, then why not protest the annual dropping of a giant tortilla chip into a giant tub of salsa at the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl New Year's Eve party in Tempe?

Brett Berry Columnist

When those tortillas fly, Mexicans and American Indians are not being deliberately insulted as President Likins has indicated. With all due respect, the toss of a tortilla does not symbolize the plight of the American Indians in the face of Manifest Destiny, nor does it represent the banishment of Mexican-Americans to the barrios of our American cities.

It is things like this that egg on those people in our society who actually are culturally ignorant. To those ethnocentric people out there who think that eating at Chipotle is celebrating cultural diversity, all this debate does is solidify their beliefs that the world is too politically correct.

Of course, the Mexican-American and American Indian cultures have been subject to countless examples of mistreatment and degradation throughout America's history, but, trust me, this isn't one of them. It's just a tortilla!

There are really only two reasons why tortillas alone have been used in the commencement ceremonies here at UA, and neither has anything to do with cultural implications. One: they fly really well. I'm sure that if spaghetti or sauerkraut flew through the air any better, then they would have been considered as an alternative food to toss. Two: let's face it, we're in Tucson. There are a lot of tortillas here. They're cheap, effective and available in large quantities. That's why they are used; it's not a subtle dig at the native cultures of the Southwest.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely support the promotion of cultural awareness and diversity, but the people offended by this tortilla tradition should choose to fight the real cultural battles out there. There are plenty of real cultural issues out there for people to fight that are much more pressing and significant than debating the cultural ramifications of tortilla chucking. Go out and debate things like income inequality between races, racial profiling and the ever-growing immigration debate. These topics should be much more offensive to the population than a silly tradition like this. So please, stop protesting this graduation ritual on the grounds of cultural disrespect.

There is one genuine reason why this tradition should be considered offensive, though. At the end of the day, this tradition essentially boils down to nothing more than a lavish waste of food. While countless people are starving in the streets of Tucson and children are going to sleep hungry, it is very understandable for people to be upset about wasting so much food for such a sophomoric tradition. If there is a reason to be offended by the tortilla tradition, this is it - not because of some perceived symbolic cultural indignation.

After all, if performing an action on food with cultural connotations has direct and degrading cultural implications that can be interpreted as insulting to that culture, then I think we could all be pretty upset by a certain scene from American Pie. Thinking that way brings a whole new connotation to the idea of "American as apple pie."

Brett Berry is a regional development junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.