Read on about the most ridiculous group of demands I’ve ever seen issued by disaffected college students—and that’s among a huge list of colleges whose students have demanded ludicrous authoritarian-Leftist reforms of their institutions. In this case, though, it’s Western Washington University (WWU), where the student demands (in the document “Student Assembly for Power and Liberation Demands [WWU]”) is so beyond the pale that it’s come full circle to unadultrated fascism—identity politics gone wild.
The Daily Beast and Inside Higher Ed (IHE) report on the students’ shenanigans, summarizing their demands (there are many more, as you’ll see if you look at the link above). The worst is the call for establishing the regressive “College of Power and Liberation,” which sounds like something right out of 1930’s Russia. Here, verbatim from IHE, is a summary of what the Snowflakes want:
- A new College of Power and Liberation to focus on “the study of histories and communities that continue to be mis- and underrepresented into the mainstream curriculum at Western.” In addition to the college itself, the list calls for “a cluster hire of 10 tenure-track faculty,” a new building to house the college and that the Student Assembly for Power and Liberation have “direct input and decision-making power over the hiring of faculty for the college.”
- That $45,000 be allocated to compensate students and faculty “doing de-colonial work on campus,” which is defined as “providing space and resources to learn alternate histories, supporting students’ nonacademic work, emotional and intellectual labor that is not about publishing or service to the institution, providing often unrecognized trainings, workshops and/or interventions on behalf of students.”
- The creation of a 15-person student committee called the Office for Social Transformation “to monitor, document and archive all racist, antiblack, transphobic, cissexist, misogynistic, ableist, homophobic, Islamophobic and otherwise oppressive behavior on campus.” Using a three-strike system, the committee would have the power to take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal against faculty members who receive citations for creating “an unsafe classroom environment.”
- A mandatory online survey conducted by the faculty and administration that would “allow Western Washington University community members to confidentially express concerns of discrimination and safety.”
- A new “multicultural residence building,” applications to which would be overseen by the new Office for Social Transformation.
- And finally that the university provide tuition reimbursement to “any Western Washington University student who has been targeted by, harassed by or has experienced excruciating acts of violence that [were] racialized, sexualized, gendered, based on ability, employment status, citizenship and/or mental health from the university.”
Note that the multicultural residence building, for which you must write an essay to qualify, will segregate students by ethnic group—exactly the opposite of what colleges should be doing. The fascistic “Office of Social Transformation” (shades of 1984!) omits anti-Semitism as an offense, of course, and also threatens faculty members with being dismissed for creating an “unsafe” atmosphere. Since when did “safety” change from physical threats into mental challenges? And the WWU students are demanding to be paid for giving emotional attention to other students.
To appreciate the full inanity of these demands, read the full 7 pages . There you will see one of the most bizarre aspects of that document: their new spelling for two words, to wit:
As has become increasingly obvious to us since we arrive at Western, we cannot count on the University to follow through for hxtorically oppressed students. These demands come out of a long hxstory of oppression played out at all levels of schooling, and just like the events of last quarter, these demands do not come out of nowhere.
We demand the creation and implementation of a 15 persxn paid student committee. . .
These aren’t typos: they’re used repeatedly, and are apparently a misguided attempt to “de-gender” words that have “his” and “son” in them. What’s next—an amino acid called “hxstidine” and toxic compounds called “poisxns”?
Finally, the student demands at WWU end with this lovely sentence:
We expect to receive a response from the university on March 1st, 2016 at 5pm agreeing with these demands and a proposed date to meet collectively.
According to both articles, the WWU administration hasn’t agreed to these demands, and has also pointed out the numerous legal and financial strictures they’d impose on the university. But the administration hasn’t done what I’d be tempted to do: give a verbal middle finger to these students. Perhaps some of their plaints are justified, but the students are so arrogant, so entitled, that they’re ruining any chance they have to effect change.
