College Students are vulnerable to harassment, this is my experience:
Small New England College, mid 1980’s. I was all for Affirmative Action as it was correcting a historical injustice. Minority students and professors would get preferential hiring and admission. Of course it would not lower academic standards, it was racist to even imply such a thing.
Then I paid a price, in Jim Croce’s words, “I learned the hard way every time.”
I was mentally harassed by a professor.
You see, I started out liberal, and a religious studies professor thought I would be one of his devotees of an alternative form of Judaism. I could tell he was not very knowledgeable, but, hey, we are all in it for a social revolution. So who cares about facts?
The liberal mind is distracted by ideology, by the push to change society. Things like the historical record, scripture and tradition, the Constitution, are pesky barriers that get in their way.
Liberals seek a strategic position in opposition to the Other, and sometimes, that Other is more imaginary than real.
Since they live in opposition, and since social revolutions must be waged, and you must be one of the angry soldiers in whatever social revolution is in fashion, you need not bother yourself with facts. If you indicate that you want to fact-check, your liberal comrades will threaten ostracism.
I registered the following complaint with the college, the college president did reach out to me and we spoke in the phone, but I heard form a connection that I still had there that after the conversation, he mocked what I said by saying with a sneer that it was “interesting”.
That means that there is no place to go to for the college student who is being harassed by a professor for her more conservative views.
Here is part of the letter:
“Senior year arrived. I changed. People change, especially in a free college environment. A fellow with dreadlocks gave me a warm hello and responded to my quizzical expression by flipping out his college ID. “Oh, Josh, I did not recognize you.” I said. Mary was planning to become a nun when we were sophomores, by senior year she had a steady boyfriend.”
I then described some of the mental harassment: calling me an absolutist in front of the other students, demanding an explanation from me for my change of heart which was itself an abuse of the power differential, seeing
that I was walking to class, he waited for me, leering and sneering all
the while during one of the longest walks of my life, I did not know
what to do, I had to get to class, and there he was, staring me down and sneering at me all
the way there, mocking me to my face when he said, “oh maybe there is hope for you”, sneer sneer, as if was judge and jury of my character, and more.
But that is what liberals think, that they are indeed judge and jury.
Because of the power differential between professor and student, harassment can take subtle forms and still be very painful and bewildering.
“Based upon the mental harassment directed at me by this professor, I request that the College administration ask the following questions: when does the "intense" student teacher relationship become a situation of boundary crossing?
“Are professors here to teach information, or promote their own personal agendas?
“Could affirmative action in hiring professors lower academic standards?
“Does the infusion of personal agendas into teaching detract from education? Repeating what the professor wants to hear is no way to sharpen a mind.
“Does affirmative action protect minority professors who would otherwise be rebuked by a dean?
“Do members of the student body have a real address to go to when problems of boundary crossing come up?
“No student need be sat across from a professor with the demand made that she explain her change in lifestyle or religion. It is an abuse of the power differential.
“I hope the administration at least recognizes the potential for the above mentioned issues, and provides a real means to deal with them. No student should be put on the spot in a power differential as I was.
"Professors should be transmitting sourced and external information devoid of personal prejudices or the desire to create followers. When a student deviates from the professor's personal agendas, it is none of that professor's business.
“The importance of the teacher as a vessel for external information and not an agent for his own agendas can be seen in classic educational systems that are not here to push political and personal agendas. Classic education is found in private Catholic schools, orthodox Jewish schools, the St John’s colleges of Maryland and New Mexico, and other institutions. Spirited debate is the order of the day; teacher and student are one in delving into classic texts.
“I am grateful for many of the experiences I had at your college especially the classes I had with a professor Biology department. Ecologist and feminist, this professor expressed no negativity towards my lifestyle change into a system which involves differentiation between genders in some rituals and natalism. A true professor helps students actualize their potential, even if that student's path differs from his or her own.
“Relativism now means to me that professors can use their platform to push their own agendas, unlike the framework of classical education, where teachers are vessels for external information and are evaluated in terms of their ability to pass that information on.
“Affirmative action now means to me that standards are lower and that boundary crossing professors are protected from rebuke.
“This professor showed marked ignorance on key issues. But how is anyone evaluated in a relativist standard-free framework that lowers standards in the name of affirmative action?
“Relativism means there are no standards. In a framework of your opinion/my opinion, there are no checks and balances, not on academics, not on personal behavior.
“The biology professor certainly had strong opinions, some with which I differ. Her opinions were based on intellectually honest research and communicated respectfully. Should anyone disagree with her, she would never resort to interpersonal pressure tactics. I am glad you have intellectually honest and respectful professors like her. But you do not appear to have the checks and balances that would ensure intellectual honesty and respectful interpersonal treatment across the board.”
This letter went nowhere.
But maybe it will help you.
You do not owe any explanation to anyone. If you were straight and have come out as gay, that is your business; if you were religious and became secular, that is your business, the list goes on. No one has the right to put you on the spot for the basic human experience of change and growth.
And certainly not in the framework of a power differential!
Question mental harassment and the abuse of the power differential on the college campus. Question lowered academic standards and the leftists' use of college culture to push their agendas.
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