Over the past two decades, I have witnessed a seismic, anti-Socratic shift in American education. Put simply, many universities cannot afford to upset their students. Although tuitions have tripled since 1975, many institutions of higher learning, backed by non-default student loans, engaged in financial speculation. Often operating on lines of credit, many schools balance their books by relying on exorbitant fees and underpaid labor. In order to keep their student/customers happy, academic administrators weaponized the power of complaint for their increasingly frail student bodies. “It’s astounding how aggressive students’ assertions of vulnerability have gotten in the past few years. Emotional discomfort is regarded as equivalent to material injury, and all injuries have to be remediated,” wrote feminist film professor Laura Kipnis, “Most academics I know — this includes feminists, progressives, minorities, and those who identify as gay or queer — now live in fear of some classroom incident spiraling into professional disaster.” The story you are about to read, is about unaccountable academic administrators who see colleges and universities as self-esteem builders where “student success” is guaranteed and the student/customer is always right. What they fail to realize is that success must first be earned, and is meritless if mandated.

– Peter Maguire