As some who has experienced exclusion and outright abandonment by people who should have acted better it irritates me to labeled as dominant or exclusive. Go ahead and tell me how you’d stand up to people who have dumped on me. I am NOT a bad person and don’t have bad intentions but first I couldn’t be respected because I was powerless. Then I worked really hard for respect and enjoyed a bit of it. Now I no longer take shit from people but boy do they have a lot of to pass around. It’s my right to take a course given freely, without restrictions and enjoy it and will not feel bad for people who excluded themselves. It took effort, persistence and sacrifice…

Columbia College Class Day Keynote Speech
By John R. MacArthur

>>”Edward Said’s summary of your responsibilities and your rights:
“The role of the intellectual is to ask questions, to disturb people, to stir up reflection, to provoke controversy and thought.… The role of the intellectual is never to justify power, to always be critical of power, whether it is the power of the weak or the power of the strong … the role of the intellectual is to challenge power by providing alternative models and, also as important, resources of hope.””<<
http://harpers.org/blog/2012/05/columbia-college-class-day-keynote-speech/