Are Student Protestors Graduating or Not?

When Devron Burks wrote their admissions essay for Vanderbilt University, they told the story of how, in junior high, they supported a trans classmate who wanted to run for prom king even though many students, teachers, and the administration were against it. Burks sketched plans to continue that advocacy in college, in line with their “view that marginalized people deserve to feel safe and feel comfortable in this world.” So when Burks, now a senior at Vanderbilt, was arrested for alleged assault and subsequently expelled after joining about two dozen other students in a March sit-in to divest from Israel’s war in Gaza, they were disappointed. “I thought that this university accepted me because I am an advocate, because I am someone who will fight for what they believe in, no matter what,” they say. Burks has no idea if they’ll receive a diploma but doesn’t regret protesting. “If I end up having to forfeit the graduation that I thought I needed,” they explain, “I don’t really care because I did what I did out of love.”

What happened at Readers Take Denver, the “Fyre Festival of Books.” Out: hot-girl walks. In: labyrinth walks. Panera will stop selling Charged Sips amid allegations that the caffeinated lemonade drinks caused two deaths. Miss USA Noelia Voigt is turning in her crown, resigning for the sake of her mental health. Another male actor has come out against intimacy coordinators. Lip Gloss is poppin’ among Gen Z. And the man-versus-bear debate rages on.

Sign up to get Brooding, a subscriber-only newsletter interrogating modern family life, written by Kathryn Jezer-Morton.