University on Watch: Crisis in the Academy

Sometimes, a school crisis erupts on a college campus unexpectedly. Other times, there is a slow build up of tension before the crescendo, and that crescendo can be violence, hate speech, or any number of incidents. Ten years ago in New London University, I was a student in crisis. Although I was only slightly in-tune with the momentum of chaos and cause for concern, I was adamant about reaching someone, some department office on campus, the school staff, or even a community member or public official in the City of Liberty to intervene in department affairs and the admissions process of the English Graduate School at New London. I fully believed if I found the right party that had a vested interest in my well-being, I would have been admitted to the English graduate program. Whether it is true or not has been lost to history and will remain contested as long as my relationship with language persists.

On a more global level, students in circumstances similar to what I went through ten years ago are sometimes pitted against the powers that be and boxed into a corner when their status as a student becomes compromised. In many circumstances, students on academic probation, or those who are still in the midst of an ongoing crisis, are targets for extreme punitive measures by campus offices and their academic programs. In many cases, the students who are considered problematic are encouraged-similar to an uncomfortable work environment-to leave on their own regard or remain and be forced to face extreme sanctions on their freedoms and liberties.

I chose to stay and carry on as a student at SUS New London. This is that story. University on Watch was written ten years after I put SUS New London "on notice," indicating my intentions to both continue on as a student while signaling my need for immediate assistance and intervention from someone who could help with my deteriorating situation as a student and mental health condition. As the book unfolds, neither intervention nor my own will to fight on would help me in my effort to overcome the obstacles I faced as I tried to fight my way to continue my education and move on to higher learning.

The very same passion that set the stage for University on Watch calls upon all people to truly look inward, face those times when the plausible seems impossible, and realize the dangers of life that can interfere with our ability to live our lives freely. Until a time when the unrecognizable solutions of your life reveal themselves clearly and without restriction, University on Watch, will signal the need for further clarification of your life, its goals, and the freedom for people to choose will over reality, making the impossible become possible.