Between protests that involved students carrying baseball bats around campus and the interrogation of a teaching assistant who simply showed a debate clip from public television, 2017 may have been one of the most tumultuous years for college campuses in recent memory.<\/p>\n
Here are our picks for the craziest stories of the year:<\/p>\n
University of Pennsylvania teaching assistant Stephanie McKellop explained<\/a> in October how her pedagogical tactic of \u201cprogressive stacking<\/a>\u201d works in practice: \u201cI will always call on my Black women students first. Other POC get second tier priority. WW [white women] come next. And, if I have to, white men.\u201d<\/p>\n The University of Pennsylvania recently announced<\/a> that McKellop is being relieved of her teaching duties.<\/p>\n Allyson Mitchell, a professor at York University\u2019s School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women\u2019s Studies, argued in a journal article published<\/a> in 2017 that \u201cfat queer art\u201d can liberate obese individuals from the social perception that they are slow and lazy.<\/p>\n In her article, Mitchell included a pencil drawing of her friend\u2019s \u201cgunt.\u201d Mitchell explains that \u201cgunt\u201d is a colloquial term for a \u201cfat pubis area between the genitals and the stomach,\u201d a portmanteau of the words \u201cc*nt\u201d and \u201cgut.\u201d Gunts are beautiful, Mitchell argues. Why? According to her scholarship, it takes time for gravity to bring them down and shape them in all of their \u201cglory.\u201d<\/p>\n Princeton University announced<\/a> in December that they will be hosting a workshop by a newly recognized student group for students interested in unique sexual experiences. The scheduled workshop will focus exclusively on BDSM, which stands for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, and sadomasochism.<\/p>\n But Princeton wasn\u2019t the first elite institution to get in on the fun. In November, as a part of Harvard University\u2019s sex week, the Ivy League institution hosted<\/a> an anal sex workshop entitled, \u201cWhat What in the Butt: Anal 101.\u201d The workshop taught students \u201chow to put things in their butt.\u201d<\/p>\n As with most proceedings at Harvard, the anal sex workshop placed great emphasis on equality. After the presenter noted that \u201cnot all men have penises, not all women have vaginas,\u201d she argued that \u201cthe butthole is the great sexual equalizer. All humans have a butthole.\u201d<\/p>\n Academy Award-nominated writer Michael Weller said<\/a> he was \u201cheartbroken\u201d when he learned that his alma mater Brandeis University had decided to cancel performances of his anti-political correctness play, Buyer Beware<\/em>.<\/p>\n Buyer Beware<\/em>, which was written exclusively for Brandeis, focuses on a fictional Brandeis student who plans to perform a provocative stand-up comedy routine that touches on hot-button political issues and is threatened by the school\u2019s administration with academic probation in the hopes that he will cancel his performance. Ultimately, the main character performs his routine, and students protest in response.<\/p>\n In November, Brandeis announced that performances of the play had been canceled in response to protests over its content and message. \u201cFollowing open and productive conversations between [Weller] and faculty from the Theater department and the Division of Creative arts, together we decided to engage with the play through a rigorous, team-taught course next semester, while [Weller] will premiere the play in a professional venue,\u201d the university said in a statement.<\/p>\n Students at the University of Notre Dame claimed that Mike Pence\u2019s scheduled commencement address on campus made them feel \u201cunsafe.\u201d Two seniors at Notre Dame started a campaign<\/a> to raise awareness of student concerns over the selection of Pence as the commencement speaker.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me personally, [Pence] represents the larger Trump administration,\u201d Senior Immane Mondane told the student-run newspaper of the University of Notre Dame and the nearby St. Mary\u2019s College. \u201cHis administration represents something, and for many people on our campus, it makes them feel unsafe to have someone who openly is offensive but also demeaning of their humanity and of their life and of their identity.\u201d<\/p>\n This is one that you have to hear to believe. Leaked audio from an investigation at Wilfrid Laurier University into teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd\u2019s classroom conduct was published<\/a> online in November. Shepherd\u2019s supervising professor Nathan Rambukkana, professor Herbert Pimlott, and Adria Joel, manager of Gendered Violence Prevention and Support at Laurier, can be heard in the clip berating Shepherd for her decision to present a clip of a television debate on a recently introduced transgender pronoun law in Canada. The staff accused Shepherd of not only violating university policy but also of breaking Canadian law.<\/p>\n After an international backlash, Laurier was forced to apologize to Shepherd.<\/p>\n In December, Harvard University officially adopted<\/a> a policy that penalizes members of single-sex campus groups. Members of such groups will be ineligible<\/a> for leadership roles in other student organizations on campus. These students will also be ineligible for prestigious academic fellowships.<\/p>\n The decision was made in part after an investigation<\/a> by Harvard\u2019s Taskforce on the Prevention of Sexual Assault who argued that single-gender social organizations such as fraternities and sororities contribute to a toxic social environment.<\/p>\n An overwhelming 61 percent of Harvard students are against the new policy.<\/p>\n In March, an angry mob of student protesters derailed<\/a> a speaking event featuring Charles Murray at Middlebury College. The mob not only successfully derailed the event but also sent event moderator and Middlebury Professor Allison Stanger to the hospital. She left wearing a neck brace.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this confrontation outside McCullough, one of the demonstrators pulled Prof. Stanger\u2019s hair and twisted her neck,\u201d a statement from the university read. \u201cShe was attended to at Porter Hospital later and (on Friday) is wearing a neck brace.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Clanton, formerly a professor at Diablo Valley College, was charged in August with assault over an April incident<\/a> in which he allegedly bashed a Trump supporter over the head with a bike lock. The victim\u2019s head was left bloodied and wrapped in bandages.<\/p>\n Although Clanton disputed the charges, he did not specifically deny that he was the masked individual behind the assault. In May, police searched Clanton\u2019s home, which lead to his arrest. He was charged with four counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon.<\/p>\n 9. York University professor argues that big stomachs are \u201cglorious.\u201d<\/h3>\n
8. Princeton and Harvard host kinky sex tutorial workshops.<\/h3>\n
7. Brandeis cancels the performance of a play that is critical of Black Lives Matter.<\/h3>\n
6. Notre Dame students claim that Vice President Pence\u2019s commencement address made them feel \u201cunsafe.\u201d<\/h3>\n
5. Canadian University Conducts Orwellian Investigation into teaching assistant\u2019s decision to show television debate clip.<\/h3>\n
4. Harvard University punishes members of single-sex campus groups.<\/h3>\n
3. Angry mob sends Middlebury professor to the hospital during Charles Murray protest.<\/h3>\n
2. Former professor charged with assault for allegedly beating Trump supporter with bike lock.<\/h3>\n