Woodland Creature

NYU Student Is Bonkers

Wow, this story is incredible. An NYU student was assigned to cover Occupy Wall Street, which apparently triggered some sort of latent insanity. I’m sorry, honey, but if you’re not prepared to encounter “criminals, drug addicts [and] mentally ill people,” you really shouldn’t live in New York City or study at NYU, as both of these places are crawling with them (take it from someone who has spent seven years in the former and four years at the latter).

When I studied journalism at NYU, my very first assignment for my reporting class was to visit Ground Zero on the third anniversary of 9/11, which, I could have argued, was potentially life-threatening, if I were so paranoid as to expect terrorists to attack on a symbolic date, as I imagine this girl would have. Alas, all it did was reduce me to a tearful, blubbering mess huddling in a downtown deli on the phone with my mom, as I felt uncomfortable and inappropriate intruding on Ground Zero visitors’ private mourning. (I persevered, and talking to strangers — even mournful ones — became easier over the years.)

I don’t know what mental health professional “cleared” her after an evaluation (unless they didn’t see these emails), but I’m pretty sure she suffers from paranoid personality disorder and/or delusional disorder (persecutory type). I highly recommend you read the emails she wrote to NYU administrators and then blasted to hundreds (thousands?) of students on the NYU Department of Social & Cultural Analysis mailing list. Some of my favorite excerpts:

“I have no history of mental health issues, I have never been written up by an NYU security guard, I have no criminal record, I have an above-average GPA, impressive extracurricular activities, an amazing resume with great recommendations/references, 3 post-graduation job offers, and I have sustained wonderful relationships with many of my previous employers and NYU professors over the years.”

“I kept my hand up for about 75 seconds — a long time to keep one’s arm raised, by the way — and Jen still did not call on me….When I pointed this out, in a completely rational, tame and respectful way, both Zaloom and Jen dismissed my thoughts — cutting off my right to the first amendment, yet again.”

Sorry, the First Amendment does not apply in classes at private universities, but nice try.

“Riley Gallagher bore witness to all of this, and if I do have to bring NYU to court, she will be legally obligated to testify about Dean Kalb’s response to my pleas for help and assistance.”

Oh, yes. She went there.

“Now would be a good time to step in — unless of course, you still think that I am bluffing about going to the press — remember, I know people — close family friends, in fact — who work for 1) WSJ 2) The New York Observer 3) NYT 4) The Washington Post. I have already written the op-ed, and a draft has been approved by one of the reputable newspapers listed above.”

Oh, yes, she also went there. Even though the New York Observer doesn’t do op-eds.

“I have over 1,000 friends on Facebook, and if Professor Zaloom does not resign, or is not fired by 9 am tomorrow morning, I will publish every single email exchange we have had, on my Facebook account. I will also print out this letter and hand it to students outside Bobst Library.” 

But really, my favorite part of all of this is that she was totally cool with traveling to El Salvador — considered by the U.S. State Department to be a “critical-crime-threat country,” with one of the highest homicide rates in the world — but couldn’t handle visiting Occupy Wall Street, which is swarming with NYPD officers. (You’d better watch out, American Jewish World Service, you might be the next victim of her wrath.) And if you were wondering if she has crazyface, she apparently does:

[Update: A commenter clarified that this wasn’t for a journalism class, so I made some minor revisions to the original post to reflect this. However, my original point — that she is straight-up bonkers — still stands.]

Source: nyulocal.com