Backlash has ensued following the expulsion of a student from Vanderbilt University for participating in disruptive protests on campus.
The student, Jack Petocz, was admitted to Vanderbilt on a merit scholarship based on his history of LGBT activism and leading student walkouts in high school.
However, Vanderbilt expelled Petocz as one of several students for their involvement in protests at the university’s campus and chancellor’s office related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“And colleges are surprised that aspiring professional activists they recruited (and hired) are disruptive. They invited the vampire across the threshold,” one X user wrote.
“So they admitted him based on **unfactual** **morally superior** activism and not merit? I’m sure the student whose place he took is fine with the decision,” another X user wrote.
The expulsion has sparked debate about universities prioritizing activist histories over academic merit in admissions and being surprised by the disruptive actions of students they actively recruited for their activism.
Some argue this indicates the type of “ignorant, entitled” students universities are breeding.
Radiologist Grazie Pozo Christie, M.D, wrote, “I just helped one of my nieces apply to medical school. Every application was filled with prompts asking for proof of leftist activist sympathy and action. If you couldn’t produce that, an exotic sexual proclivity was probably a good second best. No patient is safe in DEI medicine.”
