Late last year, Syracuse University held a “listening session” where students could gripe about all the injustices they perceived. Not a great idea, but it did bring out one particular complaint that, I submit, stands at the pinnacle of absurdity. One of the students voiced her unhappiness that a member of the music faculty was not familiar with some recent musical trends in the student’s culture. Aha! A microaggression against her! Read about it in this Washington Examiner piece by Ashe Schow.

At least, one university official who was present didn’t support this suffering student in her time of sorrow. David Rubin, former dean of the School of Public Communications, said, “Why didn’t this young woman simply offer to visit the faculty member and introduce this new music?” The answer is that many college students, especially women, are now accustomed to looking for anything to whine about. Doing so often gets them the attention they crave.

Rubin went on to say, “We need less safety and more honesty, fewer self-validating listening sessions and more edgy dialogues.” Bravo!