It is an anxious time for high school seniors right now. Many are waiting for decisions from college admissions offices. At the same time, a social movement is urging high schoolers to walk out on classes on a specific day as a peaceful protest. Some high school districts have announced that they will discipline any students engaging in this activity.
College admissions offices have thus far been silent in official capacity about how they will view applications from high school seniors who have participated in protest, as is their legal right, and faced discipline from their school districts. Or maybe they haven’t, there are a lot of colleges out there and I don’t read all of their blogs. If any have made announcements I would be happy to hear about them.
It would be great if some admissions officers would voice opinions on this, officially or unofficially. How will you assess a senior who takes part in a large scale protest? Is it a positive or a negative for their application?
I think this is misleadingly titled. There should not be disciplinary action for the act of protesting. The most it would be is an unexcused absence. This past monday there was no school anyway because of Presidents’ Day.
There are a couple of social media statements going around about a large scale walkout on March 14th. A school district near me has stated that students participating in the walkout will face disciplinary action. They shouldn’t, I agree, but it’s a real situation.
I believe that if disciplinary action is indeed taken - and as it stands against first amendment rights it’s likely a threat without teeth or just an awkward attempt at intimidation that will backfire - colleges can be updated by the student and guidance counselor, explaining why. It’ll be better if it comes from the student and admissions are kept aware of the disciplinary announcement as well as the student’s decision and its rationale, and the message could even ask what the college’s policy is wrt to the matter at hand as well as active shooting preparedness.
Colleges wouldn’t legally be allowed to punish this type of expression regardless of the administration’s beliefs (ie., there are quite a few colleges where it’s possible to conceal-carry for instance).
Finally I seem to recall that the matter was adjucated during the Vietnam war in favor of the students. Basically I don’t think students can be legally punished for walking out as long as they remain peaceful and administrators attempting to do so would run afoul of the law.
@“Cardinal Fang” I think is a specialist of the matter?
? @lookingforward@Lindagaf
As far as colleges are concerned, it’s a non-issue.
Yes the HS can discipline the kids for not attending class, just like they discipline kids for sneaking off campus for lunch (where not allowed) or for smoking/vaping in the boys room or for using a cell phone. So the kid gets a detention. Big deal. Is the HS going to report it to the college? I highly doubt it.
Colleges are concerned with major disciplinary infractions - bullying, drug dealing, weapons possession, plagiarism are examples of what a college considers. Peaceful protest? It’s not anywhere close on the radar screen.
Let’s not freak kids out over nothing - the admissions process is stressful enough.
The Admissions Director at Smith tweeted that they support HS students standing up for their beliefs and they shouldn’t worry the disciplinary action w/r/t their admissions.
The superintendent of Needville school district in Texas has said that students who demonstrate during school hours will be subject to a three-day suspension “and all the consequences that come along with an out of school suspension.” It was in the Washington Post.
The biggest district, Houston ISD, is being sensible, support first amendment rights, having discussions in classes, encouraging students to remain in school as the best place for them to be. No threats.
Multiple colleges have stated publicly that the decision to walk out of a high school in peaceful protest against gun violence will NOT harm a student in the admissions process even if there is discilplinary action from the high school.
MIT, Tulane, Trinity (CT), Smith, WPI, UMass Amherst and USC are just a few.
Also in the comments of the above link, @MITChris has posted a google doc link (which our ToS prohibits linking) that list responses from various Admissions Offices, in addition to MIT, to hopefully calm student/parent fears on the discipline subject.
Schools legally cannot punish a student above and beyond what they would receive for an absence which in mosts schools would be a detention. If a school is threatening more, call the ACLU.
Ask yourself, would you want your child to attend a college that would penalize a student for lawful protest or one which feels as Smith, WPI, MIT and others do? It wouldn’t be where I’d send either my kids or my money.
Dartmouth, Tufts, and Brown have also made it clear that if you do get punished for an act of peaceful protest it will not affect your admission decision! In fact it may work a little in your favor, as was implied by the dean of admission at Tufts in a blog post. Standing up for what you believe would be a positive in your application! And if it isn’t, well I wouldn’t want to go to that school then anyway. I’m currently working on organizing the walkout on the 14th with a few peers and we are trying to get the school administration on board but if they’re not then I’m still gonna walk out–I’m typically a rule-follower but I’ve always wondered what detention was like ;).