A tumultuous semester at Bryn Mawr college just reached a concerning conclusion. The small, Pennsylvania based liberal arts college has nearly been dismantled over the course of the last few months. It was not the Wuhan-Flu which brought down this once esteemed college, it was a mob of leftist students and cowardly administrators. Following the late October death of Walter Wallace Jr., a 27 year old black man shot after brandishing a knife at the police, students at Bryn Mawr organized a strike. They refused to go to classes, participate in extracurricular activities, turn in school work, or even eat at dining halls. The mob harassed students who didn’t participate in the strike, referring to them as “scabs.” The strike began on October 28th by the Bryn Mawr Strike Collective (BMSC). The groups primary goals were to “to dismantle systemic oppression in the Bryn Mawr community,” and end the liberal arts school’s “institutional racism, silencing, and instances of white supremacy.” The group supplied a long list of demands, and included a new required course on “Blackness and White Privilege.” They demanded increased funding for the campus Black Cultural Center, grade protection for their absence, and even a stop to “violence against disabled students.” (No, they didn’t provide any examples of this actually happening.) By November 6th, Bryn Mawr President Kim Cassidy responded with a potential timeline for compliance, and proposed to have a town hall meeting discussion to respectfully come to a conclusion. The mob, which obviously seeked to disrupt rather than make progress, declined and instead filmed a sit in. Two days later Cassidy sent an email urging students to return to classes. “The College made a legal and moral contract with its students, and their families, to offer classes. We have an obligation to honor this contract,” she wrote. “Many students—even while indicating support for the goals of the strike—are expressing that they need to return to classes.” Classes were to resume the following day. In spite of Cassidy’s best efforts, many professors still did not hold classes, many out of fear of being labeled as “racist.” Many of the few teachers who were brave enough to do their jobs only taught about racism and white supremacy. The student mob became a dictatorship completely running the school. During this time, Cassidy also addressed the strikers who were bullying and harassing students and faculty, as reported by Quillette. “Whatever the important goals of the strike and the demands, the College cannot countenance shaming, harassment, and intimidation of students or faculty to achieve them. The College cannot and will not tolerate a climate of fear where, amongst other examples, students are afraid to eat in the dining halls for fear of humiliation or for being seen as racist. The acts of intimidation that I am witnessing and that many students and faculty have described violate the [school’s] core principles. Students have a right to their education and should not have to endure shaming to attend class. Faculty have a contractual obligation to offer their classes and to provide students the curriculum that was promised. It is unacceptable for faculty to be targeted for public ridicule for doing so.” This was Cassidy’s one gleaming moment of courage, and it didn’t last long. By November 13th, the strikers list of demands had grown from the original 5 pages, to now 23. At a town hall meeting organized by the students, it took an hour to read the demands, and they were inflated, even quadrupling the funding demand for the Black Cultural Center, according to Quillette. After this absurd town hall meeting, President Cassidy, along with the school’s dean and provost, pledged to step down if the demands were not met. Then, Cassidy perplexingly apologized for her email condemning bullying, saying “My words suggested that this is a problem on campus that originates with strike supporters. It was wrong to convey this message and perpetuate a harmful stereotype.” By the 21st of November, Cassidy emailed an announcement claiming the strike was over. She framed it as if the strike was productive, and both sides benefited. This was far from the truth. The strikers, or the newly renamed “Black Student Liberatory Coalition (BSLC),” released a 15 page “treatise” titled “On Normalcy.” Cassidy promoted the “powerful” piece, encouraging all in the community to read it. They won. The strikers’ grades are not being negatively impacted, and many classes (even math and science courses) are even accepting “strike work,” which is absurdly receiving credit for watching anti-racist documentaries, having conversations about race with friends, writing about race, basically anything woke about race. Bryn Mawr did not arise from the strike stronger, and students accomplished nothing. Instead, the nearly $70,000 annual tuition is being wasted. The school is effectively under new management. Hat Tip: Quillette Image Credit: Wikimedia
