We don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fragile emotional state of American college students. Just to take one example, the University of Oregon is offering college students—who are presumably adults—access to therapy pets, coloring books, and LEGOs to cope with the stress of Donald Trump’s decisive election victory.
UO’s University Health Services brought in therapy goats, dogs, and “Quacktavious the Therapy Duck” to try to help students emotionally center themselves. Fortunately, no Haitian migrants are attending UO.
Students attending Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy are adults who are bound for government jobs in the civil services. They’re also having a bad week. Here are some of the coping methods the school is providing college students following Trump’s big win:
- Tea, cocoa, and healthy snacks
- Self-care (whatever that is)
- LEGOs
- Coloring books
- Mindfulness exercises
- Yoga
- Milk and cookies
- LEGOs AND coloring books
- Self-guided meditation
The University of Michigan and Virginia Tech University also made therapy dogs and coloring books available to students.
Syracuse University, which used to be a serious school, had a “Rock Balancing for Mindfulness” program to help students de-stress. That’s exactly what it sounds like. They stack rocks and try to keep them balanced. Another Syracuse professor held his classes outdoors on the Wednesday after the election, so his students could make friendship bracelets and crafts.
What are we missing here? Aren’t college students technically supposed to be adults? Aren’t they in the same age range where they could have joined the military to fly fighter jets and fight foreign wars for Liz Cheney and her friends?
The country will not be in very good hands in the future if these are the best and brightest that our colleges can churn out.