Mike LaChance’s 10 Craziest Higher Education Stories of 2017

Mike LaChance’s 10 Craziest Higher Education Stories of 2017

2017 was a wild year for news and politics in higher education. Let’s all take a look back and have some fun. I already did a top 10 list about Trump Derangement Syndrome on campus, so this list will exclude that topic.

Here are the top 10 craziest stories from colleges and universities across the country that I covered in 2017 in chronological order.

10. Dartmouth Visited by Rolling Thunder After Student Writes of Intent to Burn Flag

Back in January, a student at Dartmouth got a surprise visit from lots of men on motorcycles after word slipped that he was planning to burn a flag. The event was ultimately cancelled.

9. Violent riots at UC Berkeley shut down Milo Yiannopoulos event

Who can forget this one? Technically, this was covered by my colleague Leslie Eastman but I had to include it on the list for obvious reasons. Provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was set to give a talk at Berkeley about free speech and all hell broke loose. The campus police stood by and let far left goons cause thousands of dollars in damage.

8. Student Mob at Middlebury Attacks Speaker and Sends Prof to Hospital

This was another crazy free speech story. In March, Charles Murray was mobbed by crazed leftist students at Middlebury College who ended up sending a professor to the emergency room. Here’s a clip:

7. Student Group Censored After Complaining About Lack of Free Speech

This actually happened in the UK. It’s from the – you couldn’t make this up department. Students complained about restraints on free speech and ended up getting no free speech at all.

6. Evergreen State leftist professor stunned as SJWs viciously turn on him

We covered pretty much all of the crazy events at Evergreen State College but this was the story that kicked it all off. Professor Bret Weinstein, himself a progressive, became a target of the left wing mob.

5. Racist Notes at St. Olaf College Lead to Mandatory Race and Gender Classes

I take credit for calling this one a hoax when it happened. The racist notes were placed on campus by the same people who later issued a list of demands, including mandatory courses in social justice.

4. Suspended Pro-Antifa Prof Reportedly Uses Communist Grading System

This guy ended up being one of Tucker Carlson’s most humorous guests of the year. A pro-Antifa professor who taught at a college for criminal justice. Again, you couldn’t make it up. I’m including the video below:

3. NYU Students Form ‘Non-Conformist Book Club’ to Secretly Discuss Non-PC Ideas

This just goes to show how out of hand things have gotten on some campuses. NYU students were meeting in secret to discuss books without the threat of politically correct thought police.

2. U. Oregon Students Shut Down Speech by University President

In this case, a student mob interrupted a speech by the school president who was about to announce a massive financial gift to the school. They later whined about being reprimanded as if they were the victims.

1.VIDEO: Berkeley Students Protest Midterm Exam, Accuse Prof. of White Privilege

This was, as far as I can recall, the first and only time that having to take an exam was deemed racist. The professor and even many of the students weren’t buying it.

UC Berkeley is a mess.

Berkeley students protest exam, accuse their professors of privilege and White Supremacy. #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/i0xsHuH5IW

— The Columbia Bugle ???????? (@ColumbiaBugle) October 6, 2017

So there you go. Who knows what craziness 2018 holds in store?

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.