On Tuesday, Dr. Everett Piper, the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, criticized a growing culture that is blooming across the nation within American universities: oversensitivity and an over-reliance on political correctness.
In an open letter Piper published on the university’s website titled, “This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University!” the president criticized students for being “self-absorbed and narcissistic.” He blames “our culture” for coddling students and teaching them that whenever they feel offended, attacked, or uncomfortable, they are a victim.
“Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims. Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes them “feel bad” about themselves, is a ‘hater,’ a ‘bigot,’ an ‘oppressor,’ and a ‘victimizer,’” Piper said.
Dr. Piper has taken a full-frontal attack on an issue that has gained national media attention lately on the campuses of Yale—where complaints were filed over “culturally-offensive” Halloween costumes—and the University of Missouri, who’s president stepped down after a multitude of campus-wide student protests regarding racism.
The self-absorption that Dr. Piper is referencing, though, has nothing to do with racism or bigotry; rather, freedom of speech in universities nationwide has come under fire plainly because of students feeling falsely victimized.
In fact, earlier this year, freedom of speech was nearly withheld right here at the University of Minnesota.
In January, after the Charlie Hebdo massacre where 12 journalists were killed following the publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, a panel was set up comprised of University of Minnesota professors in order to discuss free speech. The meeting was promoted by a poster that circulated around campus that contained a similar cartoon as the one used by Charlie Hebdo magazine with the word “censored” stamped over the front. The posters came under great scrutiny and the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action called for them to be taken down. A petition circulated saying that the posters were insulting to the Muslim faith.
In the end, the posters were defended by the Dean of CLA by justification of freedom of speech. This was an alarming event, though, because free exercise of speech was nearly pushed aside due to the fact that students felt offended. Regardless of individual sentiment, attacking criticism of beliefs, values, or religious ideals is extremely dangerous and antithetical to democratic freedom.
In an interview with the TODAY show on Tuesday, Piper stated, "What we really have today is a demand that you must be one of us, you must comply, you must submit, you must believe like we believe, and you must think like we think, and if you don't, we will suppress you and we will silence you and we will crush you.”
This false attribution of political correctness that envelopes the policies and values of most universities across the nation nowadays thwarts any logical discussion or debate over issues that are deemed offensive or too controversial for students to deal with. It has gotten so out of hand that even President Obama has felt it necessary to address how he believes that students are too coddled in today’s universities.
So, to the 92 percent of people who believe college kids are too self-absorbed, let me just say that we all are not like the students Dr. Piper speaks of. Many of us wish we were offended in class; we wish that our beliefs were challenged; we wish that our professors had the authority to discuss issues that are controversial so we could truly receive a well-rounded education where we are enlightened by differences in opinion.
These students who eagerly play the victim card are preventing universities from being able to exist in a manner that represents what college is truly grounded upon: challenging accepted beliefs and knowledgeably debating controversial ideas.
More university administrators should speak out like Dr. Piper has. Allowing the culture of a college to change into one where free expression is commonly under fire should disqualify that administrator from their position.
Higher education is rooted among the free flow and free consideration of ideas. Without it, the value of a University education has been relinquished to the “Day Care” culture.
