In today’s Martin Center article, Rhodes College professor Patrick Gray finds a lot of similarities between today’s college experience and being in a cult.

Cults demand compliance, and Gray sees a lot of that on campuses these days, writing, “Compliance is maintained through a system of bureaucratic and curricular sticks and carrots, nudges, and social pressure. Welcome-week orientations have expanded into semester- or year-long ‘first-year seminars.’ These are largely devoid of academic content and taught by staff who curate a ‘first-year experience,’ with required attendance at lectures outside of class time on topics that reinforce the relentless messaging.”

For students who deviate and say wrong things, we have “bias response teams” ready to pounce.

Also, college officials act a lot like cult leaders, with their syrupy expressions of concern over anything that might have their members upset. Gray continues, “With ever greater frequency, campus-wide emails are sent out by provosts and presidents addressing some perceived crisis or threat to the community. The provocation might be as momentous as a presidential election or as minor as an errant comment on social media. Their tone — simultaneously unctuous and infantilizing — is what may give former cult members a feeling of déjà vu. It conveys a sense of empathy and omni-competence: ‘We share your grief, your anger, your fear; and we are doing something about it.’”

College certainly isn’t always a cult, but for quite a few students, it has many features that are cult-like, making it worse that just a waste of time and money.