Anyone with an affliction of common sense and pragmatism looks over the news landscape covering university uprisings today with dismay. How is it these privileged and entitled collegians feel empowered to stake out territory on campuses and direct actions in defiance of rules, laws, and social decency?! They have exhibited everything from hate speech, aggression, violence, and the violation of basic rights on campus, and they are only being encouraged to carry on.
The faculties appear neutered, the kids are emboldened by a compliant press corps, and the general public sits back and wonders how this is permitted to play out. The answer: Many of these schools fostered this behavior.
In a recent story from the Associated Press, the outlet covers yet another brain-melting development, where these aggressive “students” are now pleading to not incur anything in the form of accountability for their actions, begging for amnesty after behaving like rabid goons. Deep in this piece is an amazingly revealing nugget, concerning a recent uprising on one campus. Late last month I covered a protest staged at Vanderbilt University, and it became a comedy of terrors.
A few dozen students wanted to get in on the pro-Palestine trend that is sweeping the nation’s universities, so they decided to occupy the dean’s office and stage a protest. What this would accomplish is a bit of a mystery, but soon we saw these were not exactly the sharpest minds to be found. (They are all still in school, after all.) While they felt this was a great idea, their sit-in was not well planned. They soon realized that they did not have adequate food for a lengthy stay, and when authorities surrounded the office they learned that going to the bathroom would result in their arrest.
As they endured evacuating their bladders into Fuji water bottles, a gathered group of supporters outside were chanting, “LET THEM PEE – LET THEM PEE!!!” How’s that for your inspirational protest march?
The school eventually took control, with arrests taking place and a handful of expulsions doled out to the trouble-makers, one of whom was 19-year-old Jack Petocz. Following his booking, Petocz made what to me sounded like a curious statement.
I came to Vanderbilt with the dream of escaping the rampant bigotry and institutional repression I experienced in the Deep South.
— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) April 6, 2024
That dream has soured.
Make no mistake, we will be appealing and attempting to rectify this obscene and undue punishment.
The Deep South??? If you are imagining that Petocz hails from the Antebellum backwoods of the country where books are harder to find than an open mind, let me dissuade you from those images. Petocz is among those mentioned in the AP article, and it describes him as getting his education “in rural Florida.” Allow me to offer up my interpretation, and say “hardly”.
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Petocz is from the coastal community of Flagler, Florida. He attended Palm Coast High School. It is across the street from Flagler Community Airport and next door to the campus, while within a pencil’s throw is an Olive Garden and a Panda Express. His school is barely five miles from the beach. This ain’t the hinterlands of Dixie where trade schools "learn you" to make moonshine, and students are forced to watch bootleg copies of “Song Of The South.”
Beyond this claimed romanticized and imaginative upbringing, we learn another detail about the lad’s education. In that AP rundown, a curious quote from the student reveals something of college culture these days. (Boldface added for emphasis.)
He has been evicted from his dorm and is living off campus. Petocz said protesting in high school was what helped get him into Vanderbilt and secure a merit scholarship for activists and organizers. His college essay was about organizing walkouts in rural Florida to oppose Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ policies. “Vanderbilt seemed to love that,” Petocz said. “Unfortunately, the buck stops when you start advocating for Palestinian liberation.”
No, Jackie, that buck stopped the moment you broke the law and illegally trespassed in the faculty offices. This is a common prevarication in the press seen over these past few weeks, that anytime police action has been recorded it was that people were being arrested for merely protesting. The media elides the various laws broken by these encampments, building takeovers, and other hostile acts the students feel are supposed to become branded as “peaceful protesting.”
It is revealing to see that Vanderbilt - and numerous other colleges - are inviting this anti-social behavior by essentially granting a free ride for uprisings. Petocz is nothing if not a career demonstrator. Since around the age of 16, he has started or been involved with different activist groups, and he spearheaded walkouts in high schools against the Parental Rights In Education Law. Because of his activity, he has been interviewed by national news outlets and has been a frequent guest on cable channels. Petocz was also invited to the White House as a result of his activism.
And now we learn that Vanderbilt drew this student in with a scholarship based not on his scholastics but on his social upheaval – so he could ostensibly major in protesting? What did they think this was going to lead to in the end? They encouraged the very behavior that he and dozens of universities across the country are experiencing.
Now universities are trigger-shy to take action against illegalities and restore order. Just years ago these same schools offered safe-space rooms filled with plushy animals and coloring books in case students were exposed to challenging thoughts, but now they tolerate antisemitism and calls for violence.
This is the direct result of currying favor from these disruptive sorts. When you see a student who raised trouble for years in high school and you grant them full access to your campus, you should expect them to become belligerent in this fashion. Hell, if Petocz wants to lodge an appeal to be reinstated, maybe he can claim he is the victim of entrapment.
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