Purple Vindication Pt. 2: The Grown-ups Awaken!

Apparently some administrators at Yale University found out what one of their students wants to do for a senior art project.

They're a bit underwhelmed and have decided that the student in question needs to provide a "written confession" she made it all up, or else they won't let her display the project.

In the best Captain Reneau fashion, they are shocked, shocked to learn what four years of a Yale education have spawned in the mind of one of their students. If they'd known about this, why, they never ever ever would have let it go forward.

So my question is, what responsible adult hears a student suggest a performance art piece that might cause serious medical problems for herself and says anything other than, "Let's think on this some more." Or doesn't go to, say, a dean of the art school and say, "I think we've got a possible kerfluffle here." And why doesn't someone who's the dean of the art school at one of the nation's top universities have a little bit better handle on what the kids are doing and what the teachers are letting them do? You've got the best and brightest of the country hanging around your studios, doc. Why not stroll through a classroom or two and see what they're up to; edify yourself a bit and be exposed to their creativity. Also might prevent you from becoming a laughingstock some day, you never know.

The "written confession" idea is a hoot. Yale administrators say that the student can display her project, as tasteless, grotesque and offensive as it is, only if she agrees to say she made it all up. If she does that, you see, then she can go ahead and be a bold and creative visionary for pretending to have miscarriages and pretending to ingest unknown chemicals in order to facilitate them.

I expect the next news in this matter will be someone in the Yale administration confessing that the idea they confer a degree worth anything has been a part of their own performance art piece and all their students would have been better off at a community college -- hey, wait. That may be true.