(Image: AP/Julio Cortez)
Ever wonder why your Ivy League sons or daughters are failing their classes?
Student activists at Brown University may have an answer for you…if you actually buy their excuse.
Brown University recently released a “diversity and inclusion action plan” study that says students are failing and are becoming depressed as a result of their activism.
So the negative vibes these “activists” are bringing to the campus are negatively affecting their lives? Hmmm…
The names of the people that commented for the study have all been changed. You know, because true activism doesn’t want to be identified. Or maybe they just don’t want their parents to know they are failing because of something that has nothing to do with their “higher” education.
A student named David (not his real name) said this about balancing his studies with his moral obligation to society:
There are people breaking down, dropping out of classes and failing classes because of the activism work they are taking on. My grades dropped dramatically. My health completely changed. I lost weight. I’m on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills right now. (Counseling and Psychological Services) counselors called me. I had deans calling me to make sure I was okay.
Doping up students who are unable to deal with a life they manufactured themselves is apparently the answer to everything these days.
“Homework was the least of my worries,” said a student activist for Latino issues.
Then why are you in school?
According to the Brown Daily Herald, a student named Justice Gaines (whose gender is unknown) only uses “gender-neutral” pronouns (which are not actually any coherent English pronouns) xe, xem and xyr to identify people. It is not clear how it is possible to identify an individual if no one knows who they are talking about. Don’t worry, we’re as confused as you probably are.
Gaines stated that he/she/xe (take your pick) had a “panic attack and couldn’t go to class for several days.
But students are not the only ones making up excuses for stupidity. The Herald said that multiple notes from deans (yes, that’s plural) aided Gaines in completing late work while remaining involved in his/her/xer activism.
Another student, Lilian Sampedro, who we guess is female…wait, is that politically incorrect for me to assume that? Sorry. Anyway, the Herald article describes Sampedro’s “plight” on the balance of actual schoolwork and activism:
This choice, often made by students advocating for increased diversity on campus, “has systemic effects on students of color,” she added.
Sampedro worked alongside the group that presented the demands for the diversity and inclusion action plan’s revision. It was a Thursday, she recalled, and she had a research presentation that needed to be completed that week. “I remember emailing the professor and begging her to put things off another week,” she said. The professor denied her request.
“I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t slept. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally,” she said. After hours of work to compile and present the demands, she forced herself to stay up to complete the project anyway.
She admits it was her choice to be involved in the activism. It was also her choice to not eat or sleep, so why should anyone feel bad if she was working non-stop on something that was not school related at all. Usually students cram for exams, not their next rally.
And to those that might say, "Well, you’re not involved because you’re not committed to a cause,” I respond with this: I committed to the cause of doing well in school so I could become a productive member of society and not have to rely on others to get by.