"I'm lost because I'm at a university that hardly acknowledges, or cares for, my queer existence, as reflected in our curriculum, campus climate, and administrative support," she laments.

Fuck your queer existence. Be thankful you live in an era where students would be expelled for harassing you for your queer existence.

When I went to college, it wasn't like that.

The university's job is to the teach you the skills appropriate to the major you selected. Not to embrace your queer existence. If you need emotional support, the school has therapists. You are not entitled to curriculum, campus climate or administrative support that applauds your queer existence.

Frankly, it's all I can do to keep myself from being nauseated by your queer existence.

She's a natural born parasite.

While I read this I was thinking waaa, waaa. We don't need to support or acknowledge your homosexuality ir include it in the curriculum.

However, the author goes on to mention a hate filled environment. If it is truly a hate -filled environment then that is truly sad.

Bullying affects students. I can't imagine tolerating bullying in my classroom but then we look at a bigger picture. First of all, college students are adults. Secondly, we wouldn't want to squelch free speech. Where do we draw the line between free speech and bullying?

This really is an important question. Anything that puts undue stress on a learner negatively affects learning so a hateful environment can truly rob a student's education.

Too bad the university doesn't simply insist on using the The Golden Rule as a guideline and enforcing it.

A few examples of correct application would go a long way, however they would have to fight the Obama administration first, then upset a customer, then explain to that customer what Patrick said (politely), then chastise/expel another customer, then revisit w/the Obama "this is how you handle this" gurus, then be subjected to staff/SJW objections, and the cycle goes on.

Since the college admin AGREES w/the student (more money) why on earth would they do it? (Some brave souls see the big picture but ...)

"... such practical virtues as patience, persistence and the value of work."

This phrase from a WSJ article about very hard video games struck me as a concise example of college's worth decades ago.

Employers knew a 4 year college grad had obtained at least some/all of the above just based on the time period. Delayed gratification, faith that study/homework/efforts would result in the "prized" degree was accomplished by doing "work".

You received grades based on that work so an employer knew a grad understood that if more work was required to achieve a goal it would be done w/o oversight.

As others have said, things are different now that college administrators have gotten what they wanted (a lot of "customers" w/specific demands that coincide w/SJW goals) rather than what employers want.

I bet there are a lot of employers questioning if their hiring standards need tweaking.

She claims:

"I’ve worked two jobs, while going to school, while trying to get good grades, while trying to have a social life, all while trying to be a functioning member of society."

She is in college - you don't get a "social life" while in school. School is your priority, you dumb dipshit! As for being a "functional member of society"? Well, it sounds like she has failed at that too.

Why? Because she comes across as a bigot:

"More like the straightest, whitest, frattiest, ignorant, hegemonic city on Earth"

Apparently, diversity to her is more people like her and none of those "others."

And it will be losers like her that will have their student loans "forgiven" while the rest of us "functioning members of society" (i.e., working tax payors) that will foot the bill.

She's not lost because the university refuses to acknowledge, or care for, her queer existence. She's lost because the university refuses to acknowledge her existence, queer or not.

She went from a high school in which the teachers and administrators knew most of the students' names and the students knew each other to a university in which she's just another student. Unlike high school teachers, professors rarely go out of their way to learn students' names. Gone are the days when everyone knew each other from junior high or church or Cub Scouts.

It has nothing to do with her being queer. It has to do with that difficult transition from a home-hearth community environment in which her way was paved by parents and semi-benevolent administrators to one in which she is expected pave her own way.

Everyone goes through that transition, even the kids who went directly from high school to work.

Welcome to adulthood. It's a dark ride.

She went from a high school environment in which she was "the gay student" to a university environment in which she is just another student. Her ego can't handle not being "special."

Well-put, Conan.

I think, in previous generations, there was this idea that you had to earn being treated as special -- accomplish something and then get the money and/or position and respect that came with it.

Martin Luther King argued for judging people according to "the content of their character." I think that's a good idea. The sort of people you have sex with -- do we really want to have that be of concern?

@Jen:

Bullying affects students. I can't imagine tolerating bullying in my classroom but then we look at a bigger picture. First of all, college students are adults. Secondly, we wouldn't want to squelch free speech. Where do we draw the line between free speech and bullying?

We'd probably have to start by defining what we mean by bullying, but coming to a consensus on that is probably harder than it looks.

Nor do we know what Erica Hudson really meant by "hate-filled opposition to diversity" or by a university that "acknowledges, or cares for, my queer existence, as reflected in our curriculum, campus climate, and administrative support." Was somebody actively hostile to her? Did somebody disagree with her? Or, was she unnoticed and unrecognized by the other students, administrators, and faculty, which would make her like nearly every other student at her school?

And while I was typing, Conan said the same thing, but better. :-)

Martin Luther King argued for judging people according to "the content of their character." I think that's a good idea. The sort of people you have sex with -- do we really want to have that be of concern?

Amy Alkon at May 14, 2016 7:27 AM

No we don't want that to be of importance. Anymore than we want the bathroom you pick to be about your sexual identity instead of your plumbing.

Bathrooms, and colleges are not about expressing your sexuality.

A huge backlash is coming, and a lot of these whiny assholes are fighting it tooth and nail.

At some points in her piece, it almost seems like Ms. Hudson is starting to get it:

I’ve watched my student loans soar into skies I’ll never be able to skim the surface of.

Every day I spend here, I have this buzzing in the back of my head, a ticking time bomb of impending financial doom. And I find myself wondering, “Was this worth it?”

And later:

Lost as I see where the priorities are here, in our wallets and not our minds.

Now, if the money from my wallet was going to our teachers, it would make sense. But instead, it’s going to an endless list of administrative positions that we simply do not need.

Well, yes. College costs a lot of money. And barring a sudden, steep drop in demand, it's not going to get cheaper. But it doesn't occur to her that by racking up debt to earn a journalism degree, she's actually part of the problem. Nor does she acknowledge that maybe, just maybe her longed-for campus that "acknowledges, or cares for, [her] queer existence" might actually require some of that administrative bloat to support her?

Where in the world in a modern university would you encounter homophobia? Most everyone just ignores everyone else.
How would a university "affirm" someone's sexuality? How can an institution with thousands of students "care"? Caring is between individuals. Does she expect to hear on the loudspeaker "Erica, we love you"?
"facilitating a diverse learning environment," does this mean she is getting bad grades? What "opposition" is she seeing? That not everyone is gay? That boys and girls hold hands?
The complaint that the uni is about $ is so strange: is she really suggesting that a university should NOT be about getting a useful degree that has value in the marketplace? That a university should be a therapy session? And what does any of that have to do with being gay?

Amy mentions having to earn being special. Among my group of friends, mostly engineers and scientists, some IT, doctors, dentists, the professional degree and accomplishments are sort of like a ticket in the door. But after that, no one cares about the details. No one cares that Joe doctor got a mention in a national magazine, or how many papers I've published. After the ticket in the door, all that matters is what kind of friend you are. And my neighbors certainly don't care, nor the people at the grocery store. No one cares how special you are, and dyeing your hair green and blue will get looks but nothing else. And really, no one and I mean no one wants to hear details of anyone's sex life or proclivities, so just stop.

Conan:

She went from a high school environment in which she was "the gay student" ...

It would have to be a very small high school, say 25-50 students, if she was "the gay student."

Old RPM Daddy:

Nor do we know what Erica Hudson really meant by "hate-filled opposition to diversity" or by a university that "acknowledges, or cares for, my queer existence, as reflected in our curriculum, campus climate, and administrative support."

Of all the expectations this entitled princess has, I'm most put off by the reference to "curriculum." To suggest that the curriculum has to "acknowledge or care for" her "queer existence," makes me think she's expecting mandatory courses on "Queer Studies" or something.

It doesn't work that way. She can take a psych course in human sexuality, maybe, but if she's expecting "Gay History" or "Gay Lit" courses, she can go to hell.

As for campus climate, she's free to start her own student organization for gay people. At a University, she's certain to get enough interested parties among the gays and their supporters to justify its existence.

(Did anyone else notice that the two gay guys who responded to this, Charles and I, were the least sympathetic?)

"I'm lost because I'm at a university that hardly acknowledges, or cares for, my queer existence, as reflected in our curriculum, campus climate, and administrative support," she laments. "Lost attending a school that claims to care for diversity, but shows little-to-no meaningful support in facilitating a diverse learning environment, and either tolerates hate-filled opposition to diversity or allows it to be swept under the rug."

If I went back to college today, I'd identify as a horndog and insist that the school set up a special program to address my needs.

"I’ve worked two jobs, while going to school, while trying to get good grades, while trying to have a social life, all while trying to be a functioning member of society."

Or as it used to be known, "going to college."

I'm reminded of Chris Rock's jokes about the men who brag that they take financial responsibility for their kids or hold a job: "That's what you're supposed to do! That's the baseline!"

I guess it's the natural result of parenting as the "hardest job in the world" and those ridiculous stories estimating the worth of a parent based on the salaries of a cook, a chauffeur, etc. Those people and their kids now seem to want applause (or money!) for doing the things previous generations took for granted as the natural consequence of being an adult.

> It would have to be a very
> small high school, say 25-50
> students, if she was "the
> gay student."

Ludicrous math.

> Anything that puts undue stress
> on a learner negatively affects
> learning so a hateful environment
> can truly rob a student's education.

Bad comment.

I was not put on this planet [IWNPOTP™] to affirm or discount your petty judgments about due and "undue stress."

If you'd put a comma where one belonged in that sentence, we'd find it easier to believe you were concerned about education. Meanwhile you've used the word "truly" three times. This makes you seem dishonest: As if, when you go to the trouble of actually saying something true, you need us to perk up and take note of your remarkable (or merely infrequent) integrity. Amy only used it once, as a forgivable flourish... So perhaps you're merely impressionable. But this doesn't help. You're still being naive.

Seekers, I want Americans to learn things whether or not they're comfortably poised to do so. The best of us learn our lessons whether or not it's convenient at the time. Filtering noise and distraction is something I *want* children to do for themselves. We needn't launch flares at the blackboard to make it happen, certainly... Every life has things that can steal attention from a book. But a lot of unremarkable local events --the trivial behavior of students nearby, etc.-- would violate the a standard of "Anything that puts undue stress on a learner negatively affects learning."

"Affects learning" will never be my standard for goddam anything. I'll just never give a flying fuck what someone (perhaps) like you, milquetoast and cloying, thinks of as "hateful."

But cheer up! The Obama Administration, and twenty or fifty tiers of government bureaucracy below, are taking you very seriously. They listen to you with all their might, because they want to flatter the shit out of you. And they're spending trillions of dollars of other people's money (dollars which don't even exist yet) to convince you that the impulsive breakfasttable blurtings of a low-information voter are stardust.

The only appropriate university response:

"Wow. That must be really difficult for you. Now let's take a look at your grades."

☑ Goggles at May 14, 2016 12:16 PM

It would have to be a very small high school, say 25-50 students, if she was "the gay student."

Not necessarily. Most estimates put the country's gay population at anywhere between 1% and 10% of the total population. This range gives us a possible class size of up to 100. And it could be higher, depending upon geography and willingness of any other gay students in her class to announce their sexual orientation.

The percentage of the population that is gay and the willingness of one to publicly announce one's sexuality in high school also varies with geography and by person. The level of activism also varies. So, it's conceivable that her reputation in high school was as "the gay student."

I'm inferring that she sought attention in high school as an activist gay student and is expecting to get the same "she's so courageous" accolades in college that she collected in high school.

The problem is, she's now in an environment where everyone is seeking attention for some kind of victim status and all she has is that she's gay. So what. In college environments, that played out in the '80s. She needs to layer her victim status (i.e., South Lebanese, lesbian, left-handed Muslim) and add some triggers and micro-aggressions to get any attention on campus these days.

I've never heard a responsible estimate higher than 4%.

It's one of the reasons all these sexual liberation movements are so pathetic. They're forever screeching We are legion!! Don't you understand??? You might have such a person in your own circle... In your own family... In your own *home*!!!

This ever-accelerating desperation to emotionally personalize things suggests they're not content to rest their arguments on genuinely social virtues... Y'know, rationality and kindness and things like that.

Having said my bit earlier, I guess I'm a little tired on piling on this poor kid now, though. From what I can see of it, she's stressed, tired, and probably a little lonesome. And yes, that makes her just like any other college student, including the kids she thinks are passing through all this without a care.

I've got one kid in college now, and another one about to be (and penury in my immediate future). Ms. Hudson's laments, while particular to her, still sound kind of familiar to me. Maybe I'd try to get her to think about what she's saying, but I'd probably fix her a hot chocolate afterwards.

Patrick:

It would have to be a very small high school, say 25-50 students, if she was "the gay student."

Conan:

Not necessarily. Most estimates put the country's gay population at anywhere between 1% and 10% of the total population. This range gives us a possible class size of up to 100. And it could be higher, depending upon geography and willingness of any other gay students in her class to announce their sexual orientation.

Even at one percent, that would mean the school probably will be at or around 100 students, which still makes for a small school.

Of course, we're talking about openly gay students, as opposed to just gay students.

Crid is correct. The only 10% estimate made is by Alfred Kinsey and to say his sampling had a few problems would an understatement.

Crid is correct. No responsible estimate places it higher than 4%. It turns out, even my estimate was high. A Williams Institute review based upon a June-September Gallup Poll in 2011, places about 1.7% of the population as gay.

It sounds like she picked the wrong school and now resents everyone there, or she's just an asshole. Based on her nasty and condescending comments, she might just be an asshole.

But I can imagine that a radicalized lesbian student hoping to have her 'experience' affirmed is going to be frustrated at Cal Poly. It's not a politically active campus and is better known for agriculture, animal sciences, and other practical fields. The campus is in a rural region of CA and the nearest city ( San Luis Obispo ) is only about 40K people.

And yes, the locals are primarily white and heterosexual, that doesn't make them evil people.

At the end of the day, you can't make people care about your identity.

I haven't paid attention to the 1% vs. 10% arguments. I've heard both and so stated a range to avoid the thread being sidetracked into a discussion about percentages.

No matter what the real percentage is, it's fairly small. The 10% figure I always thought was along the lines of what Crid was saying, using the "legion" argument to personalize the issue defending their position using rational argument.

As far as the 100 figure, if the class size was 700 and 10% were gay, that would still be 7 students. Depending upon who had come out of the closet first and loudest, or how many students came out, she could easily be the most prominent gay student at her high school, the leader of the pack, the one on whom attention was lavished.

As I said, I'm inferring that she was openly gay at her high school, an activist student. As such, it would not be unheard of for her to acquire the reputation as the gay student. That gave her attention from the diversity crowd.

In college, a larger and more academically inclined student body than she faced in high school, she would be just another student. The attention and accolades that her activism may have gained her in high school are not forthcoming in her college experience.

She may have entered college with an idea of being an activist on campus and gaining a social life, acclaim, and prestige through that, but found that at the more conservative Cal-Poly there was little interest in her field of activism. Or the lure of a day at Pismo or Avila took away too many students for her to find a sizable audience.

So, she writes a letter criticizing her conservative, mostly white, and mostly heterosexual university for its lack of diversity. This puts her back in the spotlight and at the forefront of activism. Now, she can get the attention she seeks from other activists.

Like most college students, she's been thrown into a new environment in which she doesn't have old friends and familiar acquaintances from junior high with which to acclimate herself. She has to make friends from scratch using mutual interests and random chance. That's tough and can be daunting, especially to someone who had grand ideas of how their college life would turn out. Or to someone not comfortable being alone, handling boredom.

Or in a more cynical view, she may, as a junior, be looking toward post-graduation and in need of something to draw attention to herself for her career as a journalist, another Sandra Fluke trying to establish her bona fides as an activist for a larger market.

Either way, that her letter found sympathetic ears is disturbing; that adults in this world think it's the college's job to validate her or acknowledge her existence on her terms only. Their job is to guide her into adulthood, not to validate her childhood fears.

I read an essay by an MIT graduate a while back (can't find it anymore). He described his life in high school being the smartest guy in the school. He said he was smarter than his teachers and often did his homework on the bus. He was never challenged by his coursework.

Entering college for him was a slap in the face. He was no longer the smartest guy in the room and had poor study habits to boot. He said climbing out of the hole he dug for himself humbled him.

I had a similar experience with college. My high school homework was not challenging and was usually done on the bus or in the class before it was due. My study habits were terrible. College knocked me down hard. It was an arduous climb back up and I learned a few things that I should have learned in high school.

I think this woman's journey has been similar. She's learning that she's not special, that she's not unique. She's resisting the lesson. Let's hope it sinks in.

Amy's right about the phrase "embrace my sexuality." Doesn't that sound pretty creepazoid?

This is a better link, because disgusting old white guys.

Anybuddy remember "Arm Whacker" by Robert Williams?

Conan, check your numbers again. "As far as the 100 figure, if the class size was 700 and 10% were gay, that would still be 7 students."

(I'm sure you actually know this, and you just lad a momentary lapse in math skills, but 10% of 700 is 70, not 7.)

Yes, I started out making on point and ended up making another but not updating the math to the second point.

"Of all the expectations this entitled princess has, I'm most put off by the reference to 'curriculum.' "

Among leftists and the SJW types, it's all about tribe. They come in with the attitude of, "Everything good that has ever been done was accomplished by people of my tribe. So I should only have to study people who are like me. Being made to study anyone not of my tribe is, by definition, an injustice."

She doesn't wish to Learn
She wishes to be Validated.

And nobody that she trusts is willing to tell her the aweful truth.

Nobody cares about your validation... it's YOURS. All anyone out in the big bad world cares about is what they can get from you. Regardless if it's your attention to a cause, your money for food, or a piece of tail.

Very few people will like you just because you exist, so you have to begin with yourself, and grow from there.