UIC Art History and M.A. student Javian Walter cited in The New York Times: “The Havoc That One Disgruntled Student Can Wreak on a University”
Introduction
The Havoc That One Disgruntled Student Can Wreak on a University
SNIPPETS:
Over the past 15 to 20 years, declining numbers of college-age Americans and a seemingly endless rise in tuition have brought about a shift in power. Students are now treated like customers who rarely have to hear information that upsets them — because schools need their money to survive.
The professors are not just worried about complaints from right-wing students; some are concerned about social media or administrative backlash from their liberal students and peers, too. Javian Walter, who was a graduate teaching assistant in the art history department at the University of Illinois Chicago in 2023, told me about an incident where administrators at the school put a course on hold after students complained about the inclusion of a critical discussion of Dave Chappelle’s 2021 special “The Closer.”
Professors are fighting an asymmetric battle against the tide of anti-intellectualism, illiberalism and bad-faith complaints, and will be for the foreseeable future.
Here is the article.