Last month, the “Students4Justice” at the University of Michigan posted the following on its Facebook page:

Hello everyone! We are organizing an emergency sit-in in response to the emails sent to to [sic] the College of Engineering and Computer Science listservs, the defilement of prayer rugs in reflection rooms on campus, and a polarized campus climate actively oppressing marginalized students. We will meet in the diag [diagonal or center of central campus], and then head to the union from there! Again, meet in the diag!

There was a sit-in at the Student Union, where five demands were submitted. The fifth demand was:

Create a permanent designated space on central campus for Black students and students of color to organize, and do social justice work. This is not the same as Trotter Multicultural Center, because we want a space solely dedicated to community organizing and social justice work specifically for people of color.

This demand outraged my sense of justice.

I suspected it was “fake news” because I found it on The College Fix, a student-run web site.

I checked the Detroit News, the Ann Arbor News, the University of Michigan’s web site and other trustworthy sites. There was little to no coverage of this specific demand.

Finally, I discovered a link to the “Students4Justice” Facebook page. Caution: This still may be fake news.

However, I think it’s true because elements of this story are in other reputable news sites on the internet.

First, I tried to validate that fifth demand, which I believe is true because of the Facebook post.

Task two was to ask, “Who are Students4Justice?” There is little available, so all I can write is that it is a student activist group.

Task three was to learn the University of Michigan’s response to this demand. The answer is that the University administration listed all the multi-cultural spaces that already exist and made no reference to a new space limited to just people of color.

Also, the original cause of this demand that someone defiled prayer rugs and sent a racial e-mail on a listserv remains murky.

I graduated from the University of Michigan in 1968.  From 1964 to 1968, I lived through sit-ins and other demonstrations about Vietnam and the civil rights movement.

I remember particularly that the civil rights movement demonstrations pushed against the segregation of groups in the South and in the urban areas of the North.  The civil rights movement interested me more because all the righteousness was on the side of the protestors.

On the other hand, there existed, in my opinion, a legitimate debate on Vietnam.

Brown vs. Board of Education occurred only 10 years before I arrived on campus. Of course, the principal argument for the Supreme Court’s decision was that separate education for minority children would not be equal to the education of white children.

Subsequent desegregation of housing, transportation, private organizations, etc., followed using similar arguments of fairness and justice.

Now, the students feel that re-segregation is the answer. No whites allowed.

What in the world is happening on college campuses today?

Added to the proliferation of “safe spaces” where freedom of speech doesn’t apply, crisis intervention (Play-Doh and coloring books) for students affected by the election of Donald Trump and prohibition of “micro aggressions” (whatever those are), my connection to the university grows more and more tenuous.

I thought college was where I might be exposed to new ways of thinking, different cultures and where I could learn critical thinking. Apparently, it’s more important now to solidify and validate the stereotypes of students away from the give and take of open debate.

I’m very concerned that bizarre thinking patterns and under-developed reasoning powers may be behind the actions of the “Students4Justice,” and may afflict more graduates of our institutions of higher education.

Where will these future leaders take us in 20 to 30 years?

Will we have all-Black organizations and all-White organizations?

Will micro aggressions be illegal? I may have to discover what they are if they become illegal.

Michael Waldron is a retired lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, who was born and raised in Niles. He previously served on the Niles Community School Board of Education. He can be reached at ml.waldron@sbcglobal.net.