The battle of the authoritarian and dogmatic “Residence Life” program at the University of Delaware has brought about a much-needed scrutiny of the entire movement. In this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call, I take a look at this disturbing phenomenon.
Student-affairs and residence-life departments at many colleges and universities have been growing apace over the last ten years or so, staffed largely with graduates in soft disciplines such as education and sociology. Their heads have been stuffed with leftist notions about the world, and the best employment they can land is in the downy nest of higher education. They have no qualms about force-feeding the students over whom they have dominion dogmas about identity politics, environmentalism, and other messianic ideas.
Res life is already rooted in at many schools, and pulling it out will be like trying to eradicate kudzu that has overgrown a field.