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Originally Posted by Ustwo
Being this was not related to a class but just for living in the dorms it seems a bit unreasonable if the students couldn't 'opt out'.
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Actually, this isn't a dorm, it's a residence hall. A dorm is a barracks for students. Schools don't really have them any more. Residence Halls support the educational mission of the school, and as such nearly all of them require some sort of educational component as a condition of living there. Opting out is not really even in the realm of consideration. The other side of this, of course, is that it is incumbent on the university to ensure that these educational programs/seminars are appropriate and defensible. THAT'S where there may be some traction with the student complaints.
This may sound like pontificating or something similarly useless in the real world, but difference is actually huge. The living environment is part of the learning environment of the school.
(As an aside, an ironic twist is that the versions of these programs for freshmen often go by the acronym FYRE, or First Year Residential Experience. A lot of schools like that one because it's catchy and they aren't really original enough to come up with their own label. I thought that was funny given the involvement of FIRE.)
And the reason I don't see host's posts as having much traction in this thread is that character assassination of the source is besides the point. This stuff happens. Sometimes, things happen that are over the line. We can't really know what the deal is without more reporting - perhaps it would be helpful if the "real" media sources could shed some light. The university's flaccid response makes me extremely curious to know what their original thinking in implementing the program.