After students saw a Confederate flag displayed on a laptop, Framingham State University Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Sean L. Huddleston wrote an email which said:

A student reported a bias incident today, in which the image of the Confederate flag was displayed on a laptop. Many of you may be aware that last month we received a Bias Incident involving two other students for a similar issue. Although related in nature, the two incidents involve separate parties.

. . . .

We recognize that bias incidents are upsetting for the entire campus community, but especially for the target(s) and witness(es) of these incidents. It is strongly suggested that anyone impacted by a bias incident find someone to speak with.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, one university president has a different attitude. I’m going to quote his email in its entirety because it deserves it:

This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears that this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love! In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable.

I’m not making this up. Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic! Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims! Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes them “feel bad” about themselves, is a “hater,” a “bigot,” an “oppressor,” and a “victimizer.”

I have a message for this young man and all others who care to listen. That feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon is called a conscience! An altar call is supposed to make you feel bad! It is supposed to make you feel guilty! The goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness. The primary objective of the Church and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self-actualization!

So here’s my advice:

If you want the chaplain to tell you you’re a victim rather than tell you that you need virtue, this may not be the university you’re looking for. If you want to complain about a sermon that makes you feel less than loving for not showing love, this might be the wrong place.

If you’re more interested in playing the “hater” card than you are in confessing your own hate; if you want to arrogantly lecture, rather than humbly learn; if you don’t want to feel guilt in your soul when you are guilty of sin; if you want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want, but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them.

At OKWU, we teach you to be selfless rather than self-centered. We are more interested in you practicing personal forgiveness than political revenge. We want you to model interpersonal reconciliation rather than foment personal conflict. We believe the content of your character is more important than the color of your skin. We don’t believe that you have been victimized every time you feel guilty and we don’t issue “trigger warnings” before altar calls.

Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a “safe place”, but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn’t about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that’s wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that’s wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up!

This is not a day care. This is a university!

I love this man.

I want my children to go to a place like this, not a place like Framingham State University or 98% of the other universities out there.

I read this to my mom and she said: “How long will it take them to fire him?”

[guest post by Dana]

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving to all Patterico readers! Suffice it to say, I’m thankful for the generosity of our host as he continues to provide this platform for all of us to speak our minds, whether we post or comment.

Anyway, my turkey is in the oven (olive oil and balsamic vinegar rub, fresh oranges, salt, pepper, and cranberries), two pumpkin pies down, one pear pie still to make. It’s going to be an extra-busy day, what with all the cooking, hostessing duties, and efforts to reduce my Thanksgiving carbon impact and not offend anyone as we celebrate “white, cis-hetropatriarchal Christian fascism,” otherwise known as Thanksgiving.

May we all have a Vox-free day because we are no longer children in need of an index card, and because we understand that at the end of the day, it is Love and Grace that triumphs over all else.

–Dana