My Brother Got Shipped From PCC

[nemorathwald]

My brother Andy got "shipped" from Pensacola Christian College. This is the term PCC students use for expulsion. Before I knew the details, I expected he just accumulated too many demerits for tiny infractions. I certainly accumulated a lot of them when I was there. For instance, having a clean room and your bed made when the floor-leader comes in to check in the morning. (The floor leader is a student whose job is to supervise the students on his or her hall.) I typically would get 5 demerits for not emptying my trash during morning check; another five for hair too long when they lined us up against the wall once a month for the dorm supervisor to inspect us; another five for being late to a class; another five for being caught out of bed or with a light on after 11 PM. More rules are listed here and here, but there are countless unwritten ones.

There are stages to the penalties. For 75 demerits in a semester, you get "campused." It means you can't leave campus for two weeks, and you're not allowed to speak to any other campused student during that period.

If you get 150 demerits in a semester, you are "shadowed", which means a floor leader is assigned to follow you everywhere and make sure you don't speak to any student, while they go through the process of expelling you. The term "shipped" is used for being expelled. Shipped students sometimes report gestapo-like intimidation tactics pressuring them into signing a lot of damaging paperwork without consulting a lawyer. A shipped student is abruptly dumped on the next flight home with a suitcase, and the rest of their belongings are literally shipped after them. Expelled students always have to sit out the rest of the semester and the one following, but after that, re-applications are considered on a case-by-case basis.

He got shipped for the dumbest thing. This requires some setup to explain. There is a men's sports field and a women's sports field. But the thing is, the men's sports field is on the other side of a little 2-lane road, Rawson Lane. My brother's friend Jeremy was playing sports on the Men's field and his girlfriend wanted to watch the game. Andy drove her there in his car. The road goes through school property but is defined as not on campus. When they drove across the road, they were for a moment "off campus" before they got back "on campus" on the other side of the road. Women are not supposed to go to the Men's Field at all except during a chaperoned sports event (and not all are chaperoned). Being with a student of the opposite sex off campus is always automatic expulsion.

That site is nearby where Rachel and I got "socialed" for talking on her way to work past my dorm when we were students there; but we were inside the fence, so we weren't expelled. Security caught us on the surveillance cameras. Speaking to a member of the opposite sex in an area without a chaperone results in being "socialed": we were not allowed to speak to any students of the opposite sex for two weeks.

Since you all share my opinion that my alma mater Pensacola Christian College (home of the famous "making eye babies" and "optical intercourse") is creepy and demented, I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that I'm glad my brother is out of there, hopefully this time forever. He might be upset at the loss of all the money he's given the college, but it was wasted money for an unaccredited pre-med degree. I'll encourage him to apply to Macomb Community College or Oakland University.

Comments

[uplinktruck.livejournal.com]

So they have a financial incentive to unload students. I know there is probably a contractual agreement of some kind with no refund language. But it would still be fun to haul them into small claims court for a prorated balance just for harassment value. You know their lawyer would set them back some cash just to deal with you.

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested to see what would happen. PCC has an industrial-grade legal team and seems willing to fight anything to the end. They fought when they tried to shut down www.pensacolachristiancollege.com which was critical of them. But it wasn't enough to win that case. They put up a fight to keep their textbook business from being stripped of its nonprofit status, and lost that too. The real legal insurance PCC has is the idea that fundamentalists ought to be a civilization separate from the secular world; so the students and their parents are queasy about legal action between believers.

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
-- Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8

[drkelso.livejournal.com]

One of the advantages of this is that he is likely not out a whole lot of money. PCC tuition, room and board is only about five to six thousand a year. While that is a fairly significant chunk of change, it isn't enough to ruin your life. And I'm guessing he only lost one semester's worth (not counting loss of credits for previous year's work). And some universities will take some of the credits.

Something Alison did when she left was to enroll at Pensacola Junior College to take a course. They accepted many of her PCC credits and then the PJC credits would have been valid to transfer to another university. There are other schools that will do that too if he really decides it is worth the trouble to do that.

I got the impression he is 20? That's not that old and starting over isn't really going to affect his life any. It may seem like it to him but it's really small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. He needs to find a good school and try again.