Inmates (Students) Running the Asylum (University)

My eldest brother’s reaction to this article is that “It’s a case of the inmates running the insane asylum.” The article details some astonishing cases of student demands upon universities, such as “protests on some campuses, with students demanding ‘safe spaces’ where they would be spared from hearing or seeing the name of this ‘fascist, racist candidate.’ [Trump]” .

This craziness is more than attempts to push political correctness (PC). It is more than the advent of social justice warriors (SJW). The basic reason for why we are seeing this craziness is a series of statutes passed by the U.S. government and imposed on the American people. In the case of universities, the federal money spigot that feeds these institutions is also very important in causing university officials to bend over backwards to accommodate crazy student demands because statutes tie into federally-funded organizations.

The university officials are cowed and pressured. The major source is federal laws. Drexel University, for example, has an Office of Equality and Diversity. It oversees Equal Opportunity Laws and Regulations, federal and state. These include

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended.
Age Discrimination Act of 1975.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963, as amended.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991.
Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended.
Executive Order 11246 of 1965, as amended.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (part of the federal Violence Against Women Act of 2013)
Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act.
Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance.

This Office wants students to report suspected discrimination and harassment. We can add hate speech laws to the brew.

University officials fear this dagger pointed at them because they depend on student loans to bring in students and the faculty depends on grant money from the government. They fear lawsuits. The faculty is also easily cowed. Hence, university administrators and faculty are both inclined to cater to student fantasies and complaints. They give up authority.

However, all of these statutes also are ready made weapons that point at businesses that can be sued for any number of complaints. The entire society comes under attack on the PC and SJW fronts.

The key here is the power given to turn PC and SJW grievances into monetary losses, by those who are ready to lodge legal complaints. The PC and SJW power rests upon the statutes listed above that have been passed.

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