Is it Still 'PC' to Hate College Students?

It’s a word uttered more now than ever before.

“Politically correct.”

It’s certainly not politically correct in today’s age to show hate or prejudice to any particular group of people. But one local columnist has pointed out there is one section of society that is still fair game.

College students.

Bill Smith, founder of Evanston Now - Evanston’s online newspaper - noticed this during a string of recent community meetings regarding the possible development of a high-rise development near the Emerson-Green Bay-Ridge three-way intersection in Evanston that would, if completed, eventually most likely house droves of Northwestern University students.

“People who wouldn’t be caught dead publicly saying they don’t want to live near black people or poor people are perfectly comfortable arguing that college students should be confined to a ghetto east of Sheridan Road,” according to Smith.

And nobody at the meetings calls them out on it either, he continues.

“Hate may be a strong word, but if you don’t want members of a certain group living near you, it follows that -- on some level -- you hate them. You don’t think they should have the same right to live in the neighborhood that you do.”

He says if the particular development plan in central Evanston is to work, both students and neighborhood residents need to be mindful of one another.

“Like everyone else, students need to be thoughtful of their neighbors and make some lifestyle adjustments to fit in...But by the same token people who aren’t students who choose to live near a college campus need to expect and accept more late-night activity than if they lived in a homogeneous neighborhood of senior citizens.”

See the full column via Evanston Now