*My younger son is a sophomore at NYU, in the Tisch program, studying * *acting. I say "would be," because the move online decided him, and others * *in the program, **to take a gap semester, since you can't study acting online. *
*A classmate of his, who's also taking the semester off, and working full-time, * *was **just told by the head of NYU's Office of Student Conduct and Community * *Standards that **he's suspended all this year, through the summer, and will be * *on probation all next year—**because he had seven friends over at his house. * *Some young Stasi-wannabe on Snapchat **actually reported him to NYU, in* *line with NYU's directive urging students to snitch on others (a measure that* *some of my "progressive" colleagues here approve).* *This at a moment when, as the New York Times has recently (and quietly)* *reported, there are "no hotspots **in the US," and (as the Times has not * *reported) **New York City's COVID-19 crisis is now over, epidemiologically* *speaking. The wayward student **talked **at length **with the commissar who * *runs that office, **trying to get some **clarity **on why this happened, since Gov. * *Cuomo's order allows gatherings **of ten **or fewer people. He had seven people * *over, in his home. He knew them **all **(all are New Yorkers), and knew **they had * *all been duly masked, and "social-**distancing." The commissar could not* *explain **what rules the now-suspended **student broke, just **that his "behavior" * *was improper, **and that that gathering **could have been **a "superspreader event" * *(just like that bikers' rally in Sturgis, **S.D., which **seems to have caused just a * *handful of new "cases"**; but not like **all those **BLM **protests—huge and noisy * *gatherings that NYU's leadership **applauded, and **that, **magically, * *"spread" * *nothing**, since COVID-19 only strikes **"deplorables"). * *So, on the basis of mere bureaucratic whim (and a lot of fear and ignorance),* *NYU is punishing a student for entirely legal "congregation" in his own home,* *when he's not even enrolled at NYU.* *This kind of thing is happening at universities and colleges from coast to* *coast, as one school after another makes the whole experience of "higher* *education" as unenjoyable and punitive as possible, while still charging * *exorbitant **tuition/fees (NYU being among the costliest schools in the US).* *Thus those schools are not just doing their students wrong, but cutting* *their own throats.* *I think this ought to make some news; so if anyone has any ideas as to* *how that might be done, feel free to let me know, or use this email as you* *see fit.* *MCM * --- Support News from Underground: http://bit.ly/NFUSupport You received this email because you are subscribed to News from Underground. To unsubscribe from this email list, please go to: http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=pIdjNUgiG2h8yxbhC54SSy4SEskAoEMs For archives, please go to: http://archives.simplelists.com/nfu
