Leroy N. Soetoro
2024-04-12 19:55:42 UTC
https://nypost.com/2024/04/10/opinion/power-of-no-colleges-are-finally-
standing-up-to-students/
It seems like we are finally seeing the return of one of the most
important words you can hear on a college campus: No.
Last week, some 150 students at Pomona College, a liberal arts school in
Claremont, California, stormed the building that houses school president
Gabrielle Starrs office and refused to leave, in protest of the removal
of pro-Palestinian art on the campus.
Starr did not shrink from the invaders, who were filming her. Instead, she
confronted the students, issuing a warning.
If you do not leave within the next ten minutes, every student in this
building is immediately suspended from this institution, she said in a
video posted on X, adding that students from outside schools will be
banned from campus.
She put her foot down and showed that, on her watch, actions have
consequences.
Starrs warning came after swarms of pro-Palestinian students at
Vanderbilt University pushed past a security guard and occupied Kirkland
Hall, the site of the chancellors office, late last month.
Things reached parody level in Nashville when students called 911 because
one of them needed to change her tampon. Four were arrested; three were
expelled, one suspended and 22 given disciplinary probation.
Last week, University of Michigan president Santa Ono issued a new policy
against disruptive activity after he was shouted down by students while
giving remarks at a convocation.
A handful of years ago, this all would have been unremarkable: school
administrators wielding the proverbial yardstick and doling out punishment
for behavior that breaks norms, the law or school policy.
But in the last decade, many campus leaders have ostensibly turned to
gentle parenting on an institutional level. Its all led to an erosion
of free speech and authority, and the veneration of student temper
tantrums mostly fueled by micro-aggressions, identity politics and,
lately, the Middle East.
The results of this flawed approach have been on full display in the wake
of the October 7 massacre in Israel, as campuses have devolved into chaos
over the ensuing conflict. Students demanding divestment from Israel have
occupied buildings, led (brief) hunger strikes and called for intifada.
Not that there werent harbingers of such behavior in 2015 and 2017, at
both Yale and Evergreen College, in Washington, where professors were the
target of intense student protests because they dared question woke
orthodoxy.
Since then, weve seen angry kids disrupt speakers on campus, drowning
them out with jeers like when Stanford Law School students shouted down
Trump-appointed US Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan in March 2023.
Riley Gaines said she was assaulted by trans activists in April of last
yearwhile speaking at San Francisco State University, where she had to
barricade herself in a classroom. The school, instead of apologizing to
Gaines, responded by acknowledging the protestors pain. (In February, the
schools police dropped the investigation, which Gaines said sets a
dangerous precedent).
Students have been emboldened as the adults retreat lest the mobs get
them fired or, worse, canceled. The inmates have been running the asylum;
but if the two weeks have been any indication, theres a correction afoot.
Theres also been another sliver of hope, in a different realm of
university leadership a success story fueled by a healthy dose of no.
In the lead-up to Mondays NCAA Mens National Championship, UConn
basketball head coach Danny Hurley was interviewed about his approach to
recruiting players.
Theres measurable talents you have to have, he said. The height, the
speed, the skill set. But we spend a lot of time really focusing on the
parents. Are they going to be fans of their sons when they are on campus
or are they going to be parents? Are they going to hold them accountable
and have an expectation that [if] something goes wrong their son has to
work harder, do more, earn his role?
In other words: Hurley is not afraid to say no to talent if they havent
been schooled in the ABCs of accountability culture.
Its an important distinction in this ever-shifting college sports
landscape, where some athletes are earning more than coaches thanks to
Name Image and Likeness (NIL).
Power dynamics have radically changed, placing players in pole position.
And still, Hurley is old school the captain of the ship, rather than
letting student athletes lead. Theres a hierarchy there, and the big
cheese isnt putting up with nonsense.
It paid off when the team won for the second year in a row: Proof that
guardrails for the young and malleable are needed to build responsible,
formidable adults. Maybe even champions.
Sure, activism isnt a varsity sport even if some of these student
protesters are approaching it like theyre competing for a national title.
But sports can offer a philosophy to life. A framework. A system.
Especially in academia, which is explicitly tasked with molding young
minds and building intellect, capability and resilience.
Hurleys approach works. Lets hope school administrators and parents
still indulging their kids consider the playbook.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
standing-up-to-students/
It seems like we are finally seeing the return of one of the most
important words you can hear on a college campus: No.
Last week, some 150 students at Pomona College, a liberal arts school in
Claremont, California, stormed the building that houses school president
Gabrielle Starrs office and refused to leave, in protest of the removal
of pro-Palestinian art on the campus.
Starr did not shrink from the invaders, who were filming her. Instead, she
confronted the students, issuing a warning.
If you do not leave within the next ten minutes, every student in this
building is immediately suspended from this institution, she said in a
video posted on X, adding that students from outside schools will be
banned from campus.
She put her foot down and showed that, on her watch, actions have
consequences.
Starrs warning came after swarms of pro-Palestinian students at
Vanderbilt University pushed past a security guard and occupied Kirkland
Hall, the site of the chancellors office, late last month.
Things reached parody level in Nashville when students called 911 because
one of them needed to change her tampon. Four were arrested; three were
expelled, one suspended and 22 given disciplinary probation.
Last week, University of Michigan president Santa Ono issued a new policy
against disruptive activity after he was shouted down by students while
giving remarks at a convocation.
A handful of years ago, this all would have been unremarkable: school
administrators wielding the proverbial yardstick and doling out punishment
for behavior that breaks norms, the law or school policy.
But in the last decade, many campus leaders have ostensibly turned to
gentle parenting on an institutional level. Its all led to an erosion
of free speech and authority, and the veneration of student temper
tantrums mostly fueled by micro-aggressions, identity politics and,
lately, the Middle East.
The results of this flawed approach have been on full display in the wake
of the October 7 massacre in Israel, as campuses have devolved into chaos
over the ensuing conflict. Students demanding divestment from Israel have
occupied buildings, led (brief) hunger strikes and called for intifada.
Not that there werent harbingers of such behavior in 2015 and 2017, at
both Yale and Evergreen College, in Washington, where professors were the
target of intense student protests because they dared question woke
orthodoxy.
Since then, weve seen angry kids disrupt speakers on campus, drowning
them out with jeers like when Stanford Law School students shouted down
Trump-appointed US Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan in March 2023.
Riley Gaines said she was assaulted by trans activists in April of last
yearwhile speaking at San Francisco State University, where she had to
barricade herself in a classroom. The school, instead of apologizing to
Gaines, responded by acknowledging the protestors pain. (In February, the
schools police dropped the investigation, which Gaines said sets a
dangerous precedent).
Students have been emboldened as the adults retreat lest the mobs get
them fired or, worse, canceled. The inmates have been running the asylum;
but if the two weeks have been any indication, theres a correction afoot.
Theres also been another sliver of hope, in a different realm of
university leadership a success story fueled by a healthy dose of no.
In the lead-up to Mondays NCAA Mens National Championship, UConn
basketball head coach Danny Hurley was interviewed about his approach to
recruiting players.
Theres measurable talents you have to have, he said. The height, the
speed, the skill set. But we spend a lot of time really focusing on the
parents. Are they going to be fans of their sons when they are on campus
or are they going to be parents? Are they going to hold them accountable
and have an expectation that [if] something goes wrong their son has to
work harder, do more, earn his role?
In other words: Hurley is not afraid to say no to talent if they havent
been schooled in the ABCs of accountability culture.
Its an important distinction in this ever-shifting college sports
landscape, where some athletes are earning more than coaches thanks to
Name Image and Likeness (NIL).
Power dynamics have radically changed, placing players in pole position.
And still, Hurley is old school the captain of the ship, rather than
letting student athletes lead. Theres a hierarchy there, and the big
cheese isnt putting up with nonsense.
It paid off when the team won for the second year in a row: Proof that
guardrails for the young and malleable are needed to build responsible,
formidable adults. Maybe even champions.
Sure, activism isnt a varsity sport even if some of these student
protesters are approaching it like theyre competing for a national title.
But sports can offer a philosophy to life. A framework. A system.
Especially in academia, which is explicitly tasked with molding young
minds and building intellect, capability and resilience.
Hurleys approach works. Lets hope school administrators and parents
still indulging their kids consider the playbook.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.