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Colleges are failing their mission by coddling students, as demonstrated by the mass cancelation of classes after Donald Trump’s recent election victory. This knee-jerk reaction infantilizes students rather than preparing them to engage with a complex world. Professors and administrators at Ivy League institutions like Harvard, Columbia, and Penn canceled classes, citing students’ “emotional needs” and “trauma.” This isn’t education; it’s mollycoddling under the guise of empathy, fostering fragility instead of resilience.
Students are adults. They’re expected to engage critically with ideas, work hard, and confront challenges head-on, yet universities increasingly treat them as delicate, impressionable children who can’t handle an election outcome. Notably, these same institutions did little when Jewish students faced calls for genocide on campus. Columbia, which ignored those threats, now halts academics because a favored candidate lost, revealing a double standard that’s as hypocritical as it is damaging. As Eliana Goldin pointed out, “Half the country votes for a candidate, and Columbia elitists can’t deal.”
This selective sensitivity goes hand-in-hand with the left’s strategy of isolating young people from opposing viewpoints. Rather than fostering open discourse, these universities prioritize ideological conformity, shielding students from perspectives that challenge them. Professors using their authority to reinforce “safe spaces” aren’t just babying students—they’re stifling intellectual growth.
Colleges should be cultivating strength, independence, and adaptability. These students are supposed to be future leaders, but how will they fare in a world that won’t pause for their feelings? Rather than canceling classes to grieve, educators should be urging students to confront reality, debate ideas, and accept that life includes wins and losses. If higher education doesn’t expect students to behave like adults, it’s time taxpayers ask why they’re funding a system that nurtures weakness over wisdom.
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/family/colleges/infantile-college-students-and-the-election/
Phyllis Schlafly