We’ve grown accustomed to the stories about elementary-schoolers suspended from school for bringing to class little plastic army men and tiny toy guns or drawing tanks and planes. VTWoody sends us a link to an article about a Baltimore college student who has been banned from his campus until he seeks professional treatment for writing about his experiences in combat;
So [Charles] Whittington, an Iraq veteran, submitted an essay on the allure of combat for his English class at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville. He called war a drug and wrote that killing “is something that I do not just want but something I really need so I can feel like myself.”
Whittington’s instructor gave him an A and suggested that he seek publication for the piece. The essay appeared in the Oct. 26 edition of the campus newspaper.
Two weeks later, the former infantryman was called to a meeting with high-ranking college officials, who told him he would be barred from campus until he obtained a psychological evaluation. “We all believe in freedom of speech, but we have to really be cautious in this post- Virginia Tech world,” says college spokesman Hope Davis, referring to the 2007 massacre of 32 people by a student gunman.
Post VA-Tech? Really? Was Seung-Hui Cho a veteran who relived his experiences in combat in his mind? A veteran who knew that killing is no solution to personal problems? A man trained to keep his finger off the trigger until he needed bullets?
But Whittington, 24, says that he has his violent impulses under control with the help of counseling and medication and that the college is unfairly keeping him from moving forward with his life.
“Right now, that’s all I have left,” he says of his classes.
The dispute speaks to the apprehension that steers college officials as they try to prevent campus violence. But it also illustrates a common dilemma for veterans, who have endured traumas their peers can barely fathom and who often feel misunderstood when they try to discuss their experiences.
Yeah, that’s not preventing campus violence. That’s proof that the gap between Americans and those who serve is widening.
Would the college ban violent rap music? Would they ban violent Islamic professors? Would they ban Black Panthers?
It’s just easier to ban veterans because we make less noise and aren’t a real threat anyway. And everyone feels safer because the college acts like it’s doing something – even if it’s the wrong thing. Like the TSA.
Update here.
