University on Watch is a story about youthful hope, yearning for more, and triumph over failures and mistakes beyond our own control and doing. The book is a native story to New York state, but couldn't be more otherworldly, at times supernatural and grippingly suspenseful as the book unfolds. The crisis in the academy, or New London University, is one that goes to the very epicenter of higher learning and education. This crisis is also conjectured, created by the mind of Jacques Peters, a student rejected from the graduate school in English at New London University. Jacques Peters will do everything in his power to uncover the reason for his rejection from graduate school. Meta-power, a word Jacques Peters beliefs are behind the root of power in the English department and the reason for his rejection becomes the point of departure for a quest into the very root of power in New London. Through his journey, Jacques will undergo another transformation while contesting the admission decision to the very end, putting his health and life at risk forever.
University on Watch is a story about youthful hope, yearning for more, and triumph over failures and mistakes beyond our own control and doing. The book is a native story to New York state, but couldn't be more otherworldly, at times supernatural and grippingly suspenseful as the book unfolds. The crisis in the academy, or New London University, is one that goes to the very epicenter of higher learning and education. This crisis is also conjectured, created by the mind of Jacques Peters, a student rejected from the graduate school in English at New London University. Jacques Peters will do everything in his power to uncover the reason for his rejection from graduate school. Meta-power, a word Jacques Peters beliefs are behind the root of power in the English department and the reason for his rejection becomes the point of departure for a quest into the very root of power in New London. Through his journey, Jacques will undergo another transformation while contesting the admission decision to the very end, putting his health and life at risk forever.
“My diagnosis is identified with irrationality, illusion, fantasy, myth, sensual seduction, the imposition of will, and inhumane indifference to ethical, religious, or cognitive considerations.”
“Contesting Admission.” (J. Peters, 2008)
Birds were chirping, the sun was out, and I was in the heyday of my young adulthood. On the exterior, I had above-average looks, more than enough friends, and a supportive family. Rocking out, jamming, and head-bopping to Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, I was either driving around listening to music or partying with my friends.
At face value, I was your average New London University student. Inside, I couldn’t have been more miserable. I had recently dropped out of college and was working at a Nissan dealership, selling cars for a living. Little did I know what the next six months would bring as I dove headfirst into what was the most transformative summer I ever had in New London or at any other time in my then-twenty years of life.
“Cheers!” I said. I still remember giving a toast with Kim and Patrick; my two friends that had made it up to New London before our other friends arrived, bringing with them a few shots of cheap Vodka and a full bottle of sleeping pills. After every successive shot of liquor, I snuck off into the bathroom to swallow another dozen or so sleeping meds. Noticing my behavior becoming increasingly bizarre and erratic, Kim went into the bathroom and found an empty bottle of generic sleeping medication I had used and forgotten on the counter.
I could maybe say this was because I had just broken up with my girlfriend Dorothea. The first real romantic relationship in college. I really should be very cautious when I say “real,” though. Nothing was real about this relationship. Sure, we were intimate and connected emotionally, but the entire affair was as difficult as it was psychologically rife with abuse, anger, and resentment of each other and our respective behavior. By the time the relationship ended, I was ridden with emotional pain, tormenting myself over the mistakes I had made throughout. My goal was to exact one last vengeful blow to her, and this was my plan for doing just that.
Soon after, Kim came back from the bathroom with my empty bottle of pills in hand. I flatly denied taking them. Before I could protest, the effects of the medication were already beginning to take control. Immediately, they rushed me into Patrick’s car. Soon after, I found myself in the emergency room at Burgdorf Hospital. I began to stumble around and finally collapsed on the floor.
As a retired college faculty member and administrator, I find myself having to distinguish my reaction to the actions of J. Peters and the ways he finds the English Department at the fictional New Liberty University at fault for not intervening in his mental illness from my actual review of the narrative.
At its heart, this book is an autobiography written under a pen name, even though the author classified it as a "psychological thriller" when putting it up for review. (The book is listed as autobiography in the sales listings). The use of a pen name makes sense here, as the author often distinguishes between J. Peters, the person he was during his break, and his "healed" self. J. Peters tells his story of deciding to apply for doctoral studies at the school where he has yet to complete a bachelor's degree and the downward spiral he experienced as he becomes delusional and has a schizophrenic break. The irony, though, is that Peters always thinks he knows best, even as he seeks validation through entry into the graduate program. For instance, before being barred from courses in the department (and from entering the office), he takes a class with the chair and describes how at every turn he challenges and contradicts the professor during lectures, as well as how he rallies his friends as his "doctoral guard" spending thousands of dollars designing uniforms for them.
If Ignatius Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces found himself brought to life and dropped in an undergraduate program in New York, his narrative might read like that of J. Peters'. The antics and voice of the narrator here certainly bring Ignatius Reilly to mind.
While there are many spots where Peters realizes his view of the events between the denial of admission to the doctoral program in English and his release from the state mental hospital was distorted and delusional, even at the end the narrator still views the English department at fault for those events. Simply put, though, it isn't the job of English faculty or administration to diagnose students or determine when something more than entitlement is at play when students act out. The book can be a great help, however, in displaying instances where student counseling referrals are warranted.