Oh, the Duke thing is entirely predictable and unsurprising. Southern school + freshman common-reading selection with either LGBT or Muslim-related content = student protests. Always. Like clockwork. Freshman common-reading programs are lightning rods for that sort of controversy, partly because they’re high-profile and campus-wide, so students can claim the book was “forced” upon them, and partly because the student population involved is still very young and still in a high-school mindset where they think “if I claim it’s against my religion, I can get away with not reading the book!”
I’m not saying it’s a bad idea for colleges to choose common-reading books with potentially controversial themes – far from it* – but they should be prepared for students to kick up a fuss, because they certainly will.
Full disclosure: I am on the committee in charge of choosing the freshman common-reading book at a small, public university in the Bible Belt. One of these days, I may be the one picking the book that causes students to go apeshit. I’m going to make damn sure that the book is one that’s worth it.
But what about people who were subjected to violence immediately after receiving a warning? Mightn’t the use of the word “warning” be re-traumatizing for them?
Never mind that. What about the students who were subjected to content, with the traumatizing (for some of them) result that they had to think? Mightn’t the use of the word “content” be re-traumatizing for them?
Heh – I just had a student who managed to schnooker no less than three resits out of his failed final exam (for a year long, 30 credit module that he failed because he never came to class) by pleading ‘special learning difficulties’ – strangely, these difficulties only appeared in his final year having failed this final exam.
He failed the first retry; then he cheated on the second one. Third time: failed yet again, so it went to a second person who is a specialist in the field. He agreed that it was a failing mark. Went to the outside examiner who is also a specialist in the field. Consensus: failure.
His mum was on the phone to the programme leader demanding that I be sacked for incompetence and that I was ‘out to get’ her son. The PL asked if she wished to follow this libel up in court, and that, by the way, did she know her son had cheated on his second attempt? And that two other people marked his exam (without access to my comments or mark) and concured with the failing mark.
Mind-boggling to see parents of 21 and 22 year old adults coming in to fight their battles for them, but it explains a heck of a lot about the attitude we get.
I’ve just come through Week 1 of the new semester, and the sheer number of emails from freshers asking me to look up their timetables for them, or could I please tell them what the reading assignment is for this week is :rolleyes: I’ve also just had a Year 3 (senior/final year to Americans) who wrote to me to say that she can’t find any information for her class presentation, so could I please tell her all of the books she needs to look up.