Rhetoric & Composition I Rotating Header Image

On Loneliness

Across the country, college freshmen are settling into their new lives and grappling with something that doesn’t compete with protests and political correctness for the media’s attention, something that no one prepared them for, something that has nothing to do with being “snowflakes” and everything to do with being human.

They’re lonely.

In a sea of people, they find themselves adrift. The technology that keeps them connected to parents and high school friends only reminds them of their physical separation from just about everyone they know best. That estrangement can be a gateway to binge drinking and other self-destructive behavior. And it’s as likely to derail their ambitions as almost anything else.

Frank Bruni, “The Real Campus Scourge” September 2nd, 2017

Letters to the Editor in response to Bruni: “Loneliness and the College Experience” — September 9th, 2017 — note letter writers’ tone, affiliations, proximity to the issue, and perspectives.