Most American college students are not SJW types. The large majority are there to have fun and get the degree that they’ve heard will keep them from a life of drudgery. A few even desire to learn.
But the students who get the most attention are those who are there to transform America. They’re dedicated to getting rid of capitalism, racism, sexism, and all other bad –isms. They demand equity. And they’re always on the lookout to denounce other students, or faculty members, for alleged offenses against these causes.
One of their latest targets is the academic honor code: As they apparently have a disparate impact on students who are minority-group members, such codes should be abolished. In a new Minding the Campus essay entitled “Academic Honor Codes and Woke Adrenaline Junkies,” Robert Weissberg, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, examines this new crusade.
Here’s a savory slice:
The rush from one adrenaline high to the next in the name of social justice is commonplace on many campuses. Typically, the quest begins with demands for additional minority admissions and faculty hiring, along with support services for them. Calls for separate identity-based departments and centers typically come next, along with pressures for a more accommodating environment. Soon there is agitation for speech codes, trigger warnings, removing allegedly racist books from the library, or banishing offensive sports mascots. Today’s demands include draconian efforts to root out campus racism via mandatory anti-racist training, obligatory anti-racist statements on course syllabi, and similar measures, all of which resemble exorcisms.