If you were to look at the location of many of today’s protests and demonstrations, you would find that most of them take place on university campuses. If you were to look at where protests and demonstrations took place in the past, you would find that most of them took place on university campuses.

The university campus has long been a place where change, reform and progress have been fostered in American history. People, young or old, student or professor, love to speak their minds and fight the power — and the university campus has long been a place where those things could be done.

From Vietnam War protests to civil rights demonstrations, to the racially-charged protests of today, the university campus has been home to plenty of gatherings over the years — so much that many universities are deeming their campuses, “safe zones” in the hopes that students and faculty can be free from discrimination and can protest when they are discriminated against.

If you were to speak to Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, he would tell you that college students need to grow up and face opposition on campus.

Piper has been on the receiving end of some heat because of a recently released open letter to the college students of America. Piper was inspired to write the letter after a student at his university approached him after one of his sermons. The student said he felt personally “victimized” after Piper’s sermon.

Piper retorted with a letter addressed to the college students of America.

“Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic. Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims. Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes them ‘feel bad’ about themselves, is a ‘hater,’ a ‘bigot,’ an ‘oppressor’ and a ‘victimizer,’” the letter stated.

Piper went on to say how his sermon was meant to convict the audience, as most sermons tend to try to accomplish.

“Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a “safe place,” but rather, a place to learn: To learn that life isn’t about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that’s wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that’s wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up.”

This is not a day care. This is a university!” the letter ended.

The backlash Piper received serves to perpetuate his thoughts. People nowadays, especially college students, overreact to many things and are far too politically correct.

A university should be a place where a student is challenged and must stand up for themselves in a respectable manner. It should be a place where all ideas and beliefs are welcome, but as a paying student at a university, the student must realize they have every right to be challenged in their ideas. This is how progress is made.

Whether or not Piper’s ideas relate to the race-centric protests of today are a different matter altogether. However, we as college students must acknowledge that our university cannot and must not protect us too much. Yes, they need to keep us safe, but we are adults and we do not need to be babied because someone might hurt our feelings with their ideas.

If the millennial generation grows up too coddled, our country could be in trouble in the future. Strong people are made from adversity, not from being protected and guided by educational authority. We must learn to be independent and not be coddled by our parents, professors, deans, pastors or mentors. These people are here not only to assist us, but also to challenge us.

If we are not being challenged, then we will fail.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and are not representative of The Slate or its staff as a whole.

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