Last week, a junior at Wellesley College, an elite all-women’s college in Massachusetts, created a database where students can report instances in which professors made comments that offended their sensibilities. Elizabeth Engel told Campus Reform that she started the database to help out her peers who were suffering from what they saw as problematic statements from their professors.
Identifying as someone who struggles with an undisclosed mental illness, Engel found it frustrating that students cannot be sure as to whether their professors would be sensitive to their mental health issues. She argues that shaming professors for their supposedly microaggressive behavior will help change their behavior and help students figure out which individual professors will suit their needs.
For example, the database includes a review of Professor Kathleen Brogan, an Associate Professor of English. According to an anonymous student:
When I attempted to talk to Professor Brogan in office hours about why I was behind on my work (due to symptoms of my mental illness), she was patronizing, terse, and unsympathetic.
Another review of Prof. Elizabeth Young, an Assistant Professor of Classical Studies, said that she “was not at all undertaking about me missing class due to severe depression. She did not regard it as a legitimate excuse.”
Both of these reviews demonstrate instances where professors refused to give students special treatment or accommodations due to mental illness and the student did not appreciate it. These students believe that simply because they are facing issues of depressions or anxiety, that should excuse them of any responsibility to complete their work and to do it properly. This does not reflect poorly on the professors as much as it paints the caricature of students who fail to meet the required standards of a Wellesley College education.
Millions of Americans suffer from some form of minor or major mental illness. Most people in this country know at least one person who lives with a mental illness. However, that should not excuse anyone from performing to the highest levels in their jobs, their schools, and their relationships. People should learn how to properly manage their emotional and psychological issues, seek the proper help, and do their job. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Engel’s obnoxious database is causing far more harm to her peers than helping them.