--- title: Sombrero Racism: School in England Says Hats are 'Racist' description: Bans a local restaurant from distributing them to students canonical: https://time.com/4053635/university-sombreros-racist/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-29T12:54:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:25:20.476Z og:title: Sombrero Racism: School in England Says Hats are 'Racist' og:description: Bans a local restaurant from distributing them to students og:url: https://time.com/4053635/university-sombreros-racist/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd48c674f947e13/698865ecbc6cfc3fe33d9a5f/sombrero.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sombrero og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sombrero Racism: School in England Says Hats are 'Racist' twitter:description: Bans a local restaurant from distributing them to students twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd48c674f947e13/698865ecbc6cfc3fe33d9a5f/sombrero.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # School Bans Distribution of Sombreros, Says The Hats are 'Racist' by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 29, 2015 12:54 PM UTC  Sombrero SombreroGetty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 29, 2015 12:54 PM UTC A university in England has banned a Mexican restaurant from distributing sombreros as a promotional gift to students. University of East Anglia’s student union said the hats, typically associated with the Mexican culture, were “racist” and violated a school policy that prevents vendors at a local fair from distributing “discriminatory or stereotypical imagery,” according to the _Guardian_. Employees from Pedro’s Tex Mex Cantina insist the gift was meant to celebrate Mexican culture, not demean it. “As we handed out the sombreros we were told it was ‘culturally indifferent’, which we think is a shame because we are not doing anything to offend and we are just celebrating the culture,” said Pedro’s general manager, Matthew Ward, the [_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/29/uea-student-union-bans-racist-sombreros) reports. But the school’s student union is standing by its decision. Some students, however, have claimed the student union is hypocritical—an annual event known as “Pimp My Barrow,” they say, plays into racist stereotypes associated with black people. > [](https://twitter.com/%5Fthomasej/status/648569936772775936) Read more at the [_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/29/uea-student-union-bans-racist-sombreros). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4053635/university-sombreros-racist/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4053635/university-sombreros-racist/"},"headline":"School Bans Distribution of Sombreros, Says The Hats are 'Racist'","datePublished":"2015-09-29T12:54:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:25:20.476Z","description":"The school banned a local restaurant from distributing the hats to students","url":"https://time.com/4053635/university-sombreros-racist/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Race","england","Mexico"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd48c674f947e13/698865ecbc6cfc3fe33d9a5f/sombrero.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd48c674f947e13/698865ecbc6cfc3fe33d9a5f/sombrero.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sombrero","caption":"Sombrero","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4053635/university-sombreros-racist/","name":"School Bans Distribution of Sombreros, Says The Hats are 'Racist'"}}]}] ```