White Boy of the Month contest at UNM shut down

The “White Boy of the Month” contest, an event with 21 contestants and over 50 attendees, was abruptly ended by University of New Mexico authorities on Thursday, April 10.

The 21 contestants would have competed with impressions, dancing and any audience-suggested options while standing on a stool.

Event posters posted around campus, featuring images of Zac Efron, Timothée Chalamet and Justin Bieber, encouraged all to compete.

“Everybody welcome, White Boy is a mindset,” the posters read.

Students Adeline Ashcraft, Laurence Omaoeng, Kylie Pinedo and Abigail Smith organized the project — which included event marketing and advertising — for an Introduction to Digital Media class. The organizers started an Instagram account to promote it, which garnered 352 followers as of Sunday, April 13.

The first contestant, Tony Hinkle, started off the competition by loudly exclaiming “Hello, fellas.”

“I actually forgot that this was happening this morning, and I literally put this on. It's sage green cargo capris; I got my silk yellow Hawaiian shirt. This is how I dress,” Hinkle said.

Hinkle said he wore a “dad white boy fit,” unique from the other outfits seen at the competition.

Contestant Delano Shank arrived to compete wearing shorts and a trucker hat that said “God’s silliest goose,” which he chose with inspiration from the dad outfits in 20th-century horror films like “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.”

“I'm also wearing a shirt that says, ‘Don't talk with me. I'm a Marine,’” Shank said. “I've never been involved in the Marines whatsoever. I asked one of my friends who is a Marine his opinion of this shirt, and he said that it's only funny because I'm not in the Marines, but if I was in the Marines, I would be ridiculed for such a display of bravado.”

During the introductions, two contestants who were twins broke tradition and introduced themselves simultaneously. Some crowd members booed the twins, alleging that two people running together was against the rules.

“We didn’t set rules, so I guess it’s legal,” Ashcraft said.

Before the contestant introductions finished, UNM Police Department officers and UNM Student Activities Center officials asked the event coordinators to stop the event, citing a lack of permits to hold it on University property.

Riot Entertainment sponsored the event, which, according to Student Activities Center Director Ryan Lindquist, is an off-campus company that did not have business rights on UNM property.

“We were originally told the event would only include about 15 people. The turnout was closer to 70,” Lindquist said. “As with all events on campus, proper permits are needed. Those permits were not obtained for this event. If they were to have gone through that process, we would’ve allowed it.”

The event was scheduled to be held on Johnson Field, but in the days leading up to it, UNM Recreational Services staff emailed Omaoeng and said that permissions hadn’t been obtained for the space. The email instructed the organizers to move locations, which led to the contest being held on the Casas del Rio basketball courts.

Upon arrival, UNMPD first expressed concerns about the speakers provided by the event sponsor, which were removed to allow the event to continue, according to the organizers. When Lindquist determined that too many attendees were at the event, he asked event coordinators to shut it down and disperse everybody, Pinedo said.

“I’m really disappointed that it got shut down,” Hinkle said. “I think the police are party poopers. It’s just a group of students gathering.”

Nate Bernard is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @natebernard14

Maria Fernandez is a beat reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo

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