As many of you know I am on academic probation. Just in case anyone thought that “small liberal arts colleges” were more tolerant and open than others, you were wrong.

Tonight I got this from my professor in regards to the rough draft for my thesis:

Hello ____,

I had the pleasure of reading your rough draft today. It could use a lot of work. Your starting argument about the oversexualization of women of color and the sexism surrounding norms of oral sex was a strong one, but you didn’t use any sources. I’m sure you could find a myriad of sources on such topics; I can’t accept a paper that doesn’t cite anything but personal opinion.

In addition, I felt that you strayed a bit from your main theme. The purpose of the thesis is to deconstruct the public reaction to “My Neck, my Back” which is a very interesting idea, but your thesis was 20 pages longer than the maximum length, and pages 50-77 were a series of poems and personal anecdotes which would be better suited to a creative writing course. Generally, these types of projects are better without a lot of personal context; I understand that some of your sexual experiences pertain to the subject matter but combined with the lack of sources, the description of your first encounter with cunnilingus makes your thesis seem unprofessional and rambling.

In addition, I need to stress the importance of proper grammar. Using. Periods. After. Every. Word is not proper grammar or punctuation. Random capitalization and bolding of words that you think are important are not necessary. You also should steer clear from expletives or insults (such as “fuckmonkeys”, “asstrumpet” or the other insults you used to describe oppressors- which were funny for casual chat but not appropriate for a thesis).

Your other work in this course has been solid, and I hope that you can revise your thesis using your usual style, which has always been a pleasure to read. Please feel free to see me at anytime to go over the specifics of your thesis.