Student activists at Brown University are complaining of emotional stress and poor grades after months of protesting, and blame the school for insisting that they complete their coursework.
“There are people breaking down, dropping out of classes, and failing classes because of the activism work they are taking on,” an undergraduate student going by the pseudonym “David” told The Brown Daily Herald Thursday. “My grades dropped dramatically. My health completely changed. I lost weight. I’m on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills right now. Counselors called me. I had deans calling me to make sure I was okay.”
Other students reported similar problems, describing maladies ranging from emotional distraction to panic attacks that they say caused them to skip assignments, miss class, and generally lose focus on keeping their grades up.
David and other students began demonstrating on campus in October to protest two opinion columns published in the Daily Herald that some students deemed racist because they defended the celebration of Columbus Day. Black and Asian student groups reacted by demanding that the paper not only retract and apologize for the op-eds, but also develop a plan for increasing the diversity of its staff, subject to approval by the activists.
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