The College Fix

Last weekend The Fix highlighted a Chronicle of Higher Education story about why more and more college presidents are looking to move on from their jobs.

Heck, who wouldn’t grow weary from trying to placate the perpetually aggrieved far-left? If college officials do nothing about a particular situation, they hear about it. If they do do something, they hear about it.

Imagine what Harvard officials are thinking in the wake of a “swatting” incident against a quartet of black undergrads. Over 40 black student groups are upset and want the school to “take action to repair the manifestations of [its] inaction.”

The president of the Black Graduate Student Alliance even said it bothered her “soul” that the incident “wasn’t more widely acknowledged” by Harvard.

Her soul. Ye gad.

At San Francisco State University, one cannot even have a discussion about the fairness of allowing biological men to compete against biological women in sports without running afoul of campus activists. Even SFSU’s progressive president was told she must “hold herself accountable” for allowing such views.

My own alma mater isn’t immune from this nonsense. Earlier this month there was a shooting at a local mall (which I’ve visited many times since it opened decades ago) in which three people were injured.

This past week, the University of Delaware student paper The Review took the school to task for its “perceived silence” regarding the incident (emphasis added).

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“A majority of people were extremely upset by the University of Delaware’s lack of response to the recent shooting at Christiana [Mall] given that Christiana is very close in proximity to the University of Delaware,” UD March for Our Lives President Khazra Fatima said during an April 12 protest.

“If we can regularly receive alerts for thunderstorm warnings, arson attempts or any other range of things that are happening on campus, it’s very feasible for UD to send us a UD Alert for a shooting that’s only 10 minutes away from campus,” Fatima added.

The UD March for Our Lives Instagram page ripped the university for “failing to acknowledge th[e] act of violence” and “failing to prioritize students’ needs.”

UD junior Avery Jones, who was working at the mall at the time of the shooting, agreed with Fatima and said UD “should have sent out some sort of mental health resources” given that many UD students are employed at the mall.

(Two things: How does Fatima know that a “majority” of UD students were “extremely upset”? Did she take a poll? And for what it’s worth, saying the mall is “10 minutes away from campus” is a stretch, especially if you’ve ever endured Newark, DE traffic when UD is in session.)

The Review concludes with “As of publication, the university has yet to issue a statement regarding the shooting.”

Considering the mall has no official affiliation with the university and is completely on the other side of town, why should it? Its only connection to UD is that it employs some of its students.

But suppose UD officials did issue a statement. Would it have made a difference?

Of course not. You could bet good money that the UD March for Our Lives would complain that any statement was “inadequate,” “ignores the pathology of gun culture,” “doesn’t address students’ real needs,” and that UD must take “real” action in the future.

Don’t fool yourself. Even any “real” action wouldn’t be enough. Nothing ever is — for the perpetually aggrieved.

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