A breath of fresh air and wisdom from a college president in these turbulent times. But a lot of students won’t like what he had to say.
The president of a Christian liberal-arts university wrote a scathing letter about students on campus who complain about perceived injustices and insensitivities – scolding them for being “self-absorbed and narcissistic” and declaring: “This is not a day care.”
Oklahoma Wesleyan University head, Everett Piper, in a letter posted on the school’s website, argues today’s culture is teaching young people “any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims.”
The stern lecture was prompted by one student who complained a university chapel service made him feel “victimized” by a sermon on love that “made him feel bad for not showing love.”
Piper wrote, “Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic. Adding “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…”
Piper also decries the labeling of “anyone who dares challenge” students and makes them feel bad “about themselves” as “a ‘hater,’ a ‘bigot,’ an ‘oppressor,’ and a ‘victimizer.'”
He said, “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.”