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Students complain: Academics interfere with college!

2/22/2016, 11:40 pm
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Homework is interfering with their activism

Campusreform.org: Student activists at Brown University are complaining of emotional stress and poor grades after months of protesting, and blame the school for insisting that they complete their coursework.


“There are people breaking down, dropping out of classes, and failing classes because of the activism work they are taking on,” an undergraduate student going by the pseudonym “David” told The Brown Daily Herald Thursday. “My grades dropped dramatically. My health completely changed. I lost weight. I'm on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills right now. Counselors called me. I had deans calling me to make sure I was okay.”

"My grades dropped dramatically. My health completely changed. I lost weight. I'm on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills right now." Tweet This

David and other students began demonstrating on campus in October to protest two opinion columns published in the Daily Herald that some students deemed racist because they defended the celebration of Columbus Day. Black and Asian student groups reacted by demanding that the paper not only retract and apologize for the op-eds, but also develop a plan for increasing the diversity of its staff, subject to approval by the activists.

Following an almost-immediate capitulation by the newspaper's editorial board, and incensed by University President Christina Paxson's attempt to stake out a middle ground on the matter, the protesters proceeded to direct their unspent energies on the university as a whole, issuing an ultimatum in November calling for affirmative action hiring policies, mandatory diversity training, and apologies for Brown's historical ties to the slave trade.

David, who spent many hours helping to organize the demonstrations, claims he reached out to both Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and his academic deans for support, but told the Daily Herald that the therapy and deans' notes requesting extended deadlines on his assignments were little more than “bandages” for the stress of balancing his activism with existing obligations to school, work, and friends.

[highlight=#FFFF00]Justice Gaines, an undergraduate student who uses the pronouns xe, xem and xyr, even recounted suffering from what xe describes as “a panic attack” related to xyr emotions over the Daily Herald op-eds, adding that xe “couldn't go to class for several days” following the episode.[/highlight]

Liliana Sampedro, one of the students who compiled the diversity ultimatum, argued that refusal to grant such accommodations “has systemic effects on students of color,” who she said may sometimes feel obligated to prioritize their activist work over their studies.

“I remember emailing the professor and begging her to put things off another week … I hadn't eaten. I hadn't slept. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally,” Sampedro recalled. The professor nonetheless insisted that she submit a previously-assigned research presentation on time, which she claims forced her to stay up late to finish the project after having already spent hours working on the list of demands.

Why wasn't I told Next Tuesday™ has already arrived?
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2/23/2016, 12:45 am
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Sounds like Brown University needs to change its name...

to RED university!
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2/23/2016, 8:28 am

Captain Craptek wrote:J[highlight=#FFFF00]ustice Gaines, an undergraduate student who uses the pronouns xe, xem and xyr, ....[/highlight]

I have a wonderful all-inclusive pronoun that combines she, he and it. But when I try to use it and show I am, like, totally PC sorry, used "that phrase" again, I get told to not do that.

Regardless, I feel very sorry for that sheeit.
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2/25/2016, 3:43 pm
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When I first saw this, I thought that Comrade Chedoh was spreading out to other sites. But my gosh, this is real!
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