Oh I see: Blame Students for Ableist Decisions!

[trouble]

*headdesk*

I fell asleep at 9:30 and then woke up at about 2 a.m. and so I went on twitter so I could check the news and what the shit is this?

University Decision To Withdraw Student With Down Syndrome Sparks Outcry

When officials at an Oregon university decided that a 20-year-old with Down syndrome could no longer audit a ceramics class, the woman’s peers responded in force.

Eliza Schaaf was auditing a ceramics course at Southern Oregon University until she received a letter from the school Nov. 8 indicating that her need for extensive one-on-one assistance “resulted in a disruption of curriculum delivery and interfered with the teaching and learning environment for the instructor and other students.” University officials informed Schaaf that as a result she would be withdrawn from the course.

That didn’t sit well with Schaaf’s classmates who said that she was not a disruption and that her inclusion added to their college experience. All 19 of the other students in Schaaf’s class signed a petition asking that she be allowed to remain in the course. What’s more, the university’s student senate voted to oppose the school’s decision.

So, let me see if I get this straight:

The university administration says Eliza is a disruption to her classmates.

Her classmates respond with "lol no". Every single person in the class signs a petition saying she's not disruptive. The student union votes to back her inclusion in the class. There have been student protests saying she's not disruptive. But hey! Let's kick her out of school 3/4s of the way into the term because .... Why exactly?

We have a word for that, you know.

I'm looking more into this case, but it looks pretty shitty to me.

Comments

[metonymy]

I am going to focus on the positive so I don't start throwing things: all of her classmates, 40 people who signed the petition, and the entire student senate think that she has a perfect right to stay and finish the course. And they were willing to take action to do so, even if that was unsuccessful. That makes me happy. (The rest of it makes me want to cry.)

[trouble]

Yes, I was thinking about that too. ♥

[sabotabby]

Yep. Because the administration are fuckwads and I hope they and the university get sued liek whoa. But her fellow students sound pretty cool.

[trouble]

They do! I admit, I was really surprised to find out that the student senate voted in support of Eliza.