A college president in Oklahoma is defiantly standing by his controversial view that today’s students are too sensitive and too quick to play the victim card.
Dr. Everett Piper, the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, posted a message on the school’s website last week, saying college students expect too much coddling and declaring: “This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University!”
The blog post gained attention in the wake of a growing number of students protesting racial discrimination and other issues on campuses across the country.
Piper wrote that he chose to share his frustrations publicly after a student, who has not been identified, complained about being “offended” by a sermon given at the Christian liberal arts college.
Piper said on a local radio program, “The Pat Campbell Show,” that when he heard about the incident, he asked to see a copy of the sermon, thinking he might find something sarcastic or abrasive. In his opinion, the message was innocuous, Campbell said on the radio show.
The sermon was on the Bible passage 1 Corinthians 13, which includes the verse “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” The sermon was about love, Piper said.
“It appears that this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love,” Piper wrote in his post. “I’m not making this up. Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic.”
The post, however, wasn’t meant to be directed at the student who raised the issue, Piper told NBC News. “This is not a message to my students per se … This is a message to the broader community.”
Piper said he doesn’t support “the shouting down of a contrary idea rather than a civil and polite exchange disagreement” because he believes respectful discourse is a foundation of academia.
“A liberal arts academy is about learning. It’s not supposed to be a place to suppress controversial ideas,” Piper said. My point was to challenge my own industry — to look my academic peers in the eye and say: ‘We’ve caused this.'”
Piper, who has been the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan since 2002, said in his post that if students “want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want, but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them.”
The University of Missouri gained attention last month when racial tensions on campus that students felt weren’t being addressed sparked protests and a hunger strike. The school’s president, Tim Wolfe, resigned amid the turmoil, and the activism inspired student protests on campuses across the country, including Yale University and Ithaca College.
Yale stands in solidarity with Mizzou. #ConcernedStudent1950 @yannamo_ (Photo credit: Philipp Arndt)
“This has nothing to do about race. This is about the arrogance and the narcissism of our culture,” Piper said on “The Pat Campbell Show.”
“Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a ‘safe place,’ but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn’t about you, but about others,” Piper wrote in his post, which he said has been viewed more than half a million times on the college’s website since it was posted on Nov. 23.
Piper said some have disagreed with him, but parents of students at the school of 1,700 have been supportive, as have others who work in education.
“I’ve had … faculty across the country say ‘thank you, it was about time someone said this,'” Piper said.
A very good start to my morning..
How the fuck do these idiots have that sort of time on their hands? Everyone in my social circle was too busy going to class, studying, and working. Even the ones who didn’t have jobs typically had to help with family, did volunteer work, or tutored.
20 trigger words to start off the article.
Good job.
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:
This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University!
Dr. Everett Piper, President
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears that this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love. In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable.
I’m not making this up. Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic. 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.”
I have a message for this young man and all others who care to listen. That feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon is called a conscience. An altar call is supposed to make you feel bad. It is supposed to make you feel guilty. The goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness. The primary objective of the Church and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self-actualization.
So here’s my advice:
If you want the chaplain to tell you you’re a victim rather than tell you that you need virtue, this may not be the university you’re looking for. If you want to complain about a sermon that makes you feel less than loving for not showing love, this might be the wrong place.
If you’re more interested in playing the “hater” card than you are in confessing your own hate; if you want to arrogantly lecture, rather than humbly learn; if you don’t want to feel guilt in your soul when you are guilty of sin; if you want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want, but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them.
At OKWU, we teach you to be selfless rather than self-centered. We are more interested in you practicing personal forgiveness than political revenge. We want you to model interpersonal reconciliation rather than foment personal conflict. We believe the content of your character is more important than the color of your skin. We don’t believe that you have been victimized every time you feel guilty and we don’t issue “trigger warnings” before altar calls.
Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a “safe place”, but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn’t about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that’s wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that’s wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up.
This is not a day care. This is a university!
Jim writes:
“I want reparations and a safe space from these idiots.”
Reparations – good luck. Safe space? No problem. Gun club’s a good place to start. Strip bar is probably just as good but harder on your marriage….
In 1944, kids this age landed at Normandy and proceeded to liberate Western Europe from an evil regime.
A lot of these current kiddies need a safe space and a pacifier…lolololololol!
We had once-a-week research review meetings in our lab group, where we would present data and observations to our advisers and they would give feedback. I have sat through meetings and become rather uncomfortable when other students were criticized.
We had an international grad student from China who already had a doctorate (post-doc); my department chair thought he lacked any scientific understanding whatsoever. Liu (not his real name) would generate lots of graphs from his data and present what he thought, and the chair would tear him a new one. “That doesn’t show any correlation whatsoever, it’s as random as noise!” he would complain. “You can use software to generate a line through the middle of a shotgun blast, and it would mean as little. You have not shown me anything new, useful or insightful today; you have wasted my time with pointless lines on irrelevant data and wrong projections. You have a doctorate, for God’s sake! Did no one teach you what science is, how to treat data and draw conclusions? You have wasted another week at a modern, well-equipped facility and achieved nothing! When are you going to demonstrate research that actually means something?”
It was truly uncomfortable to watch; I was glad it wasn’t directed at me; and I was relieved when he went to another university. I never heard how he did there, and I learned a fair amount from his mistakes and the chair’s criticisms; perhaps that was the only way the chair had to get through to him, and I feel even more regret that he (the chair) retired a few years later and is no longer shining light on stupidity like he did.
Students who are never criticized are denied the real benefit of college education: to learn when you’re wrong, WHY you’re wrong, and how to correct your deficiencies and do better in the future. I’d much rather have my professor rip my work to shreds AND learn from it, than have him pat me on the head and say “That’s good enough! Go enjoy your weekend” and fail later in life.
If Dr. Everett Piper were an employee of a public university, ANY public university, he would have been fired or suspended within an hour of sending out that email.
You’re offended? Tough shit!
Why would Admin post an article on narcissist yutes so soon after Maggie practically pinned the term on me? This could ruin Christmas for me.