White Privilege

I'm Jack Petocz, a 19 y/o activist that's been fighting for marginalized people for years.

Yesterday, I was expelled from Vanderbilt University for peacefully protesting the genocide in Palestine.

Vanderbilt will let sexual assaulters walk free, but expel passionate organizers.

— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) April 6, 2024

I am, as Nanci Griffith wrote, a child of the’60’s. I was far too young to protest the war on a college campus or march for civil rights, but the ethos of the era soaked into my moral bones. People were killed on college campuses (Kent State). Students were regularly arrested for protesting (irony alert: they were avoiding the draft by being in college). They didn’t risk being inconvenienced by being kicked out of school. They risked being drafted and sent to the war they were protesting.

After exhausting every other avenue, 27 students engaged in a sit-in at our chancellor’s office.

During this time, Vandy denied us of our basic humanity, restricting access to food, water, restrooms, or medical care.

All the while, being cornered by a wall of police & admin.

— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) April 6, 2024

"Fighting" for marginalized people means not being allowed a bathroom break during your sit-in, or not getting a fresh bottle of water? O, the humanities! (By the way: “for years”? You are way too young to use that phrase unironically.)

Yesterday, they released disciplinary decisions, expelling 3 students, suspending 1, and putting 22 others on probation.

This is how a school claiming to champion “free speech” reacts to students rallying together in compassion & love for those outside Vanderbilt's ivory towers.

— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) April 6, 2024

"Free speech" does not include occupying an office. Sorry to break it to you. If it did, I’m sure you could get the ACLU to help you. How your sit-in shows compassion and love for people in Gaza is another matter. Apparently you want a gold star for your sense of compassion. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. It wouldn’t help the Palestinians, either.

Vanderbilt the choice is yours. Will you repeat your abysmal history with social movements, or let a teenager with a previously clean record continue their education?

Follow the Vanderbilt Divest Coalition for updates and calls to action.https://t.co/EyT3IKdYS9

— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) April 6, 2024

Vanderbilt is in Tennessee. Did that escape you? And you really expected to escape the South by going to school…in the South?

You are, by the way, an adult. Old enough to vote, and back in the’60’s, to be drafted. You want to be considered an adult, but be no more responsible than a child. Don’t start your adulthood blaming others for the consequences of your actions. That way lies the life of Donald Trump, without $400 million from Daddy.

Learn from a better model than that.

Shaw was right. Youth is wasted on the young.