Photo by Fibonacci Blue. CC BY 2.0
In the nearly-immediate wake of the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the superintendent of a Texas school district announced that students who participated in protests (or “awarenesses,” whatever those are) would face a three-day suspension.[fn1]
There was immediate blowback; the Parkland shooting have led to a remarkable level of engagement among high school students on issues of gun violence and regulation. But the threat of suspension could have a significant chilling effect on student activism: colleges can revoke acceptances for, among other things, disciplinary actions. So in theory, a student in the Needville Independent School District, who has already been accepted to college, could have her acceptance revoked if she participated in a protest (or awareness!) and was suspended.
In response to Curtis Rhodes’s threat, a number of universities (led, as best I can tell, by MIT) have announced that peaceful protest will not jeopardize students’ admissions. Among those universities? The University of Utah, Westminster College, and BYU. Update: per the comments , also Southern Utah University.
I have been perfectly willing to criticize my alma mater when it has done offensive and bad things in the past (for example, before it changed its policy to allow Sikh students to wear beards). But I want to praise it when it does the right thing, and this is clearly the right thing. So good for you, BYU. Thank you for making clear to students that their exercise of their political voice will not jeopardize their admission.
And for prospective BYU (and U of U and Westminster College and hundreds of other schools) students: you can participate in tomorrow’s walk-out. You can march on March 24th. Make the world a better place, and do it without losing your college spot.
[fn1] Note that there are almost certainly constitutional issues with Curtis Rhodes’s threat, but we’ll leave those aside.