Why We Dislike Privilege (and Student Protesters)

Why are we so bothered by privilege? 

Silence isn't a requirement of being a student. You don't have to park your disagreements at the door to enroll.  Protesting racial inequality is a good thing for this generation and generations to come, and protesters are not acting like crybabies.  Nor are universities becoming "day care centers" as one president angrily suggested.  Yipes.  

Putting black tape over photos at Harvard Law School and standing up for a safe places to live and learn do not beg for calm and do not signal exaggerated behavior.  Think about our reaction if the images at Harvard were of women faculty defaced with male sex organs? Would we ask for tolerance? What if students had not protested in the 60's and 70's?  Our society needed to hear the voices of the young -- who saw injustice.  We still do.  

Consider why many of the responding university administrators lean out instead of in when students confront them. Why can't they acknowledge the genuine feelings of their students?  And, reflect on why so many commentators call activism "coddling" and a "children's revolt." We mistake speaking truth to power with being rude, out of line and infantile. 

Please see my piece just released at Hechinger Report explaining why we are so upset and bothered by the protesting students at https://bit.ly/1Rj5YqZ.

I agree with President Michael Roth at Wesleyan and his recent piece @HuffingtonPost.  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-roth/this-university-president_b_8621760.html and cross-posted at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/20/sick-of-hearing-about-pampered-students-with-coddled-minds-this-university-president-is/.  He's right. 

Students are begging for us to listen and hear.  Let's do just that.