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Cross-posted Friday on Daily Kos:

As a senior chemical engineering major at the University of Delaware, I'm only to cognizant of the recent hubbub about the, shall we say, slightly over-zealous attempts by residence life staff to change students' ways of thinking. It seems to me that the response to the whole thing has gotten a little bit out of hand.

Allow me to explain why.

My freshman year here, way back in 2004-2005, I was a fresh-faced 17-year-old, all gung-ho to be a good student and fit in at my new university. I was going to be going to parties, hanging out with people, and in general having a good time. Then classes began, and the reality of what college really is set in. I had expected it to be something like high school, just with a bit more time in class and maybe a bit more work.

I was wrong.

Not only were there far more assignments than I was used to, they were of a much higher caliber. On top of all the work and the classes and actually attempting to have a social life (very difficult as an engineering major, I might add), we were always getting emails from the RA's and the hall director about various programs and such that were going on. Now, being from a small town and raised to be a reasonably respectful person, I took at face value the statement that, "floor meetings and such are mandatory." At first, I didn't care. I went, I listened, sometimes even chimed in (this was before the policies currently under fire came into place, as far as I'm aware).

Then, a gradual realization took hold around fall semester of my sophomore year: If I missed floor meetings, no one noticed! It was a wonderful observation. It wasn't that I was offended by what went on at floor meetings (as I said, this was fall of '05, so before all this other stuff came in), I was just flat-out bored. So I stopped going. Did I get yelled at? Harassed? Nope. Personally, I think my RA that year was about as thrilled with floor and building meetings as I was. That was the general attitude on the floor: Who really cares? I mean, they try to get you to go, tell you it's mandatory and all that, but there aren't any consequences for missing it. Besides, all you have to do is lie and say, "Oh, I was at lab," or, "Oh, I was studying for an exam," or something like that, and they back off. No one, not even the most zealous RA, is going to tell you that a floor meeting takes precedence over your studies (well, maybe some would, but they're not really good RA's then, in my humble opinion). And no one will be the wiser.

Around my junior year (2006-2007) was when this new curriculum started cropping up. By this point I had stopped going to floor meetings, since I'd discovered that it was all pretty much the same thing each time, and only went to the first building meeting each semester, just so I'd know if there was anyone new around (usually not). Oh, sure, I got grumbled at by my RA for missing meetings, but by that point, I'd even stopped caring enough to give a decent lie for an excuse. Did I ever get anything worse than a mild grumbling-at from my RA?

Nope.

So, following a hellish spring semester my junior year, and a great summer working back home in Connecticut, I come back this fall. Do I go to the first building meeting? Nope. Do I go to the first floor meeting? Nope. I'm sorry, I've got work to do. Either that or there's a nice bottle or two of beer in my fridge in need of consumption after that last test I just took. Does the RA do anything more than grumble? Nope. Not a thing. Heck, they don't even grumble that hard! So I've really stopped caring. Although now, after all this hullabaloo, I may have to start going again, just to heckle (I'm a bit of a sadist like that).

Now, this is not to say that I'm excusing the U of D Res. Life people. A program like that is, in my opinion, wrong. It is no-one's right to try and change the way someone thinks. Anytime something like that goes on in my general direction (most often when Preacher Mark is out in front of Kirkbride Hall with his latest anti-gay, anti-Catholic, anti-evolution claptrap on his easel, Bible in hand), I tend to get a little bit ornery.

Actually, I'll be honest. I can get downright belligerent. So it was definitely irritating that, the first class day after a certain party last spring, where some rather tasteless epithets were seen on guests' shirts, and later in pictures on Facebook, that several members of an anti-racism group on campus came into class to talk at us about it. I say "talk at" because, while they tried to make it seem like it was a discussion, as has been said of the current (now suspended) program here, they were using it as a chance to tell us how to think, and to be politically correct. I was not pleased with this. I'm no racist (well, according to the documents from Res. Life, I guess I am, being a white male and all), but I'll be honest: I was more than a bit perturbed. This was an engineering class. Now, admittedly, it was engineering ethics, but somehow I don't think racism and safe design of chemical plants are exactly joined at the hip. I was very tempted to point out that, while they were very eager to jump down the throats of a few students who wore shirts proclaiming Mexico as full of tequila and dirt, they were nowhere near as eager to do something about the Baptist preacher who, on a fairly regular basis, and in public, not at private functions, claims high, loud, and repeatedly that anyone of my faith (Roman Catholic) is doomed to hell as an idolater and worshiper of a false god. Something about that just seems a little odd to me.

I'm all for teaching diversity, but the way they're going about it? I stopped caring 2 years ago. It was the best thing I've ever done in that respect. To all the students at U of D, freshman especially, who think they have to do the one-on-one with their RA? You don't. If they harass you about it, make excuses. Can't think up a good one? Oh well. They don't need one. They can't make you go. They have no impact on your grades. All they can do is say you aren't cooperating. At worst, they'll move you to a different dorm (and since most freshman are on North Campus, you'll be that much closer to your classes). Do you think you need to go to floor meetings? Nope. Not at all. They always tell you the same things, and if any useful information is actually disseminated (rare, but it does happen), you can count on the RA or hall director sending out an email the next day about it, since I guarantee not everyone was there.

You don't need to care about what goes on in the residence halls. You just sleep and study there, anyways. Focus on your classwork and on having a good time. It's the best four years of your life, we're told, and I wish I'd learned earlier not to worry about res. life stuff. You really don't have to. Study, go to class, have fun. Find a boy/girlfriend. Or, if you're like me and an engineering major, don't! You just do your work and sleep. And sometimes not even sleep. (I'm just kidding. You HAVE to find some time to relax if you're an engineering major. You'll have a psychotic breakdown otherwise. I recommend copious amounts of Saccharomyces-processed barley extract flavored with Humulus lupulus flowers.)

For everyone out there on DKos who wanted a student's view, now you have one. My opinion on this whole thing? If students could simply pick up on the fact that RA's have no ability to affect them directly whatsoever (unless they actually break rules, since the RA's actual job should be to enforce the rules, not indoctrinate), they would care a lot less about whatever res. life was trying to stuff down their throats, as it were.

It's hard to get someone to believe something when they just don't care.

Link to original post on Daily Kos here.