I believe it is underappreciated that student life at Lehigh is administered by extreme progressive social justice warriors, including the Dean of Students, the Residential Life Dean and staff, and the Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director and Staff, all of whom are aided and abetted by a very aggressive Office of General Counsel. This entire administrative apparatus at Lehigh views a large part of its role as imposing its extreme progressive political agenda on the relatively apolitical Lehigh student body. This may be a positive for some students, but for most it is the opposite. For example, today Lehigh hosted “An Intersectional Identities Conference.” Attendance at this or a similar conference was required of 75% of the members of each fraternity and sorority on campus. Conference sessions included: “Unpacking Privilege,” “Internalized Oppression,” “The Orgasm Gap,” and “Your Whiteness is Showing: Navigating Social Justice Work from a Place of Privilege.” While conferences like this one are not unheard of on college campuses today, only at Lehigh is attendance compulsory for students who do not want to attend. On another front, the Assistant Dean of Student Life recently sent a lengthy and legalistic demand letter (apparently drafted by the Office of General Counsel) to each resident of two freshman dormitories (constituting perhaps 40% of the freshman class), informing them that “an offensive symbol was recently formed in the snow” at a nearby basketball court, and demanding that all refrain from using “any words or symbols that potentially cause harm to marginalized individuals or communities.” The letter goes on to say that “when we see offensive language/images . . . our first call is to LUPD” (LUPD is the armed campus police force). Imagine a letter like that landing out of the blue in the inbox of a college freshman. The bottom line is that Lehigh is not a safe space for students who are not progressive social justice warriors.
Good to know.
Lehigh was on my daughter’s list but she has had plenty of that sort of SJW agenda in her Catholic high school.
That’s all good…but enough.
Thought some context could be helpful as I know people are evaluating Lehigh for their college choice. (BTW I had a great undergrad experience and received 2 job offers before graduating). I suspect, but am in no way “in the know”, that much of what @“Greenwood Hall” mentioned is a direct result of Lehigh and the Office of Civil Rights coming to an understanding about an complained filed a few years ago.
In 2014 there where a number of protests over the spray painting of a racial slur on a multicultural house as well as perception of campus culture:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/lehigh-university-racial-incidents_n_4620075.html
A complaint was filed with the Department of Education and Lehigh had fear of “sanctions” if found guilty. To avoid this, Lehigh reached an agreement with the Department of Education that requires them to be more proactive in educating and reporting on racial issues:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/lehigh-federal-investigation-racism_n_5922080.html
I suspect the Office of the General Counsel is the entity within Lehigh that has been tasked with ensuring that Lehigh remains compliant with the agreement with the DOE and thus has to be aggressive as they answer to the DOE. I’m also sure Lehigh does not enjoy being in the position it is in. For what its worth, I know a number of other institutions of Lehigh’s caliber require attendance at events that have a common theme to what @“Greenwood Hall” mentioned.
Not excited for this aspect of being a mountain hawk 2021, but I guess schools are like this everywhere except Alabama and Miss. Well, my mandatory high school social justice class prepared me for BSing my way through this kind of stuff.
Lehigh is not a wildly left wing college filled with students looking for a reason to protest.
All Lehigh seems to be trying to teach students is common decency, respect people who are different from you, and the value in learning to consider situations as if you were in someone else’s shoes. That is beneficial no matter your race or sex.
Basically, they are teaching students to follow the golden rule.