#Triggered

Increasingly infantile college students are often mocked for adopting silly proposals like requiring "trigger warnings" to be placed on classic literature to protect those whose feelings might be hurt. After all, you could "cause trauma" if you assign the wrong student to read Joyce.

But "trigger warnings" were originally designed to protect veterans who had PTSD or sexual assault survivors (which is to say, actual sexual assault survivors, not Mattress Girl). However, when a veteran who has actually experienced trauma in his life needs help, schools respond this way:

Months after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pledged to improve its treatment of veterans, disabled student veteran Jeremy Rawls is hoping his college might do the same.

Since February, the rising senior at Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss. has struggled to maintain good grades and reclaim his work-study position after MC administrators allegedly suspended him and labeled him a threat to himself and other students.

In an exclusive interview with Campus Reform, the former active-duty Marine who served two combat tours in Iraq said his suspension came after he requested to meet with a different counselor in the school’s Office of Counseling and Disability Services. Rawls, who is diagnosed with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was originally paired with a female counselor who wore traditional Muslim dress during his initial visit to the office.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to participate… I didn’t want to traumatize her and it wasn’t a good environment to be talking about [my disabilities] with that specific person,” Rawls said...

“Their response was suspending me pending a mental evaluation which I provided and then they put me on further restriction and a reintegration program,” Rawls said.

In an email notifying Rawls of his suspension, Associate Dean of Students Jonathan Ambrose said administrators and the Student Intervention Team have a “due diligence in not only the protection of yourself, but also the campus community as a whole from potential harm or the threat there of.”

“You are not permitted to be on campus for any reason or attend class during the duration of the Interim Suspension unless you have written permission,” states an email sent to Rawls on Feb. 26 and later obtained by Campus Reform.

[Student vet with PTSD suspended, labeled 'threat' to peers after requesting to meet with non-Muslim counselor, by Gabriella Morrongiello, Campus Reform, May 25, 2015]

It's important to note political correctness is attacking from multiple directions here. It's not just that Rawls can't talk honestly about his experiences in Iraq in front of a Muslim counselor, it's that he might be punished for doing so. After all, in at atmosphere of "speech codes" and "microaggressions" the only way you can really be safe is to avoid diversity at all costs.

The story does show the real purpose of "trigger warnings" and a "safety" obsessed campus culture isn't to safeguard students but restrict speech and punish people many campus administrators see as undesirables (like Marines.) After all, if the school was actually serious about safeguarding the emotional well-being of students, it would have protected Rawls and help him recover from his experiences, not hurt him further.

The outraged reaction of American patriots to this story may force the school to make some changes. But the deeper problem of political correctness and anti-White, anti-military, and anti-American hostility remains. The real solution is defunding and replacing this irredeemably corrupt higher education system altogether [Burn Down the Colleges, by Gregory Hood, Radix, May 20, 2014]