Boston College professor asks students to make their own ‘fursonas’, did furries come to class

A Boston College tenured professor had students make their own “fursonas” and invited furries as visitors to his “Beast Literature” class last week, according to tweets and a course website.

Christopher Polt, an associate professor specializing in Latin literature, tweeted pictures on Feb. 23 of a classroom with furs — people who dress like animals and take on fictional characters.

“This is the most amazing class I’ve ever had,” he tweeted along with a photo of the furries sitting at desks in a classroom.

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He also tweeted a photo of a cake with the words “sorry for making you furry.”

“As my students all made their own fursonas, I brought them the traditional cake,” the tweet read.

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According to the Boston College website, Polt earned his doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has taught courses in ancient and modern comedy, nature and the environment in the ancient world, various courses in language and more.

On February 28, Polt tweeted a screenshot of Anonymous Posts.

“Why is BC funding a furry?” a poster asked.

In another tweet the same day, Polt said that “students think I’m a weirdo isn’t new—it’s been my brand since kindergarten, and I don’t particularly care.”

“The gap between the wholesome, positive character of my furry school days and the way degenerate, meaningless outsiders imagine they were is breathtakingly funny and sad,” Polt said in a other Tweeter.

The Department of Classical Studies at Boston College announcement Polt’s Beast Literature class in October as part of one of his new Advanced Classical Culture Seminars.

A Twitter user asked Polt if he would “find a way to include some furry fandom content” in his course.

Polt replied that the class would have “fuzzy guests” and that its students would “make their own fursonas”.

According to the official class syllabus websitestudents are instructed to examine “animal literature” or discuss animal characters from “ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, and the contemporary world”.

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“From Mother Goose fairy tales to Disney films and furs, we imagine that nonhuman animals often speak like humans do,” the program says. “But what are we saying when we use animals to talk to and about each other? And what do art and literature featuring articulated animals say about our attitudes towards human and non-human animals and the lines we draw between them?”

‘Intro to furs’

The Beast Literature Classroom curriculum issues a content warning for materials that “students may find sensitive, uncomfortable, and disturbing (e.g., graphic physical and sexual violence; gender, sex, and sexuality; religious issues; etc. ).”

According to the course’s website, students are assigned a weekly journal about their experiences with “non-human animals.”

“[E]Each week you will choose one aspect of your relationships or experiences with non-human animals, broadly defined, and write a short journal entry about how our discussions or assignments for that week make you (re)think about that relationship or experience. , or how that relationship or experience actively shapes how you engage with this week’s course material,” the website reads.

The class schedule lists the names of each week’s lesson, including ‘Sexy Beasts’, ‘Dog Saints and Lambs of God’, ‘The Golden A**3, Gender and Control’.

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During a week labeled “Furry Culture” in the class schedule, one class session is titled “Intro To Furries”. The furries attended the next lesson, “Animal Selves”.

Homework for the Intro to Furries class includes viewing “The Fandom” documentary. One of the discussion questions listed after the viewing asks students to discuss “furry spaces,” which the documentary describes as “more supportive and inclusive environments than those found in life without fur, and as a kind of utopia.

The assignment listed on the website for the Feb. 23 class asks students to create their own “fursonas.” He asks students to consider aspects they want to include in their personality as a furry, such as his personality traits, biography, and a new name.

The assignment asks students to choose a species, “whether ‘real’ (eg, fox), ‘fictional’ (eg, griffin, dragon) or a hybrid of several species (eg, folf = fox- wolf) for your fursona be.” The assignment then asks students what their fursona looks like.

“Please come to class with a reference sheet (hard copy or digital) that includes your fursona name and at least one full body front-facing design with colors,” Polt wrote. “I’m going to ask you all to share and discuss your fursonas with the class.”

One of the assignment’s follow-up questions asks students to imagine living like their fursona for a month, “assuming everyone you interacted with thought it was perfectly normal.”

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The website includes the biographies of the “furries” who planned to visit the class, including “Chipper Wolf” who, according to the website, is a postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley and earned a doctorate in English. and Women’s Studies, Gender, and Sexuality from Harvard University in 2021, “making him the smartest dumb dog who has ever dreamed of not being attached to a single form.”

Boston’s “Gale Frostbane” and “Geist, also known as NONSTOPPUP,” were also scheduled guests.

On the website, Polt says students will receive an “A” if they show up for most classes, are prepared, participate, and submit “good faith and thoughtful efforts in all course activities.” Otherwise, Polt says students will receive an “F.”

fursona alpaca

Polt himself has a fursona alpaca which he claims to have chosen because he thinks they share traits which he considers the “best or most essential parts” of himself, including friendliness, curiosity, gentleness, sociability and shyness, as shown in his tweets.

“I first met alpacas about 10 years ago and immediately felt a connection,” he added.

According to one of his tweets, Polt had his students play a game of “hot alpaca” in October.

“I regret to report that my students did not react as enthusiastically as I had hoped to our game of ‘hot alpaca’ (hot potato, but… with an alpaca),” he said. he adds. tweeted with a picture of the stuffed animal. “They did, however, learn the words ‘cush’ and ‘pronk’ and had a brief insight into alpaca dental care.”

In a follow-up tweet, he joked about an interaction with a student regarding his fursona.

The day before the Feb. 23 class, Polt tweeted about people’s perceptions of his teaching style.

“I sincerely feel sorry for people who complain when they see others finding joy in their work,” he said. said. “Like, I’m sorry you’re a miserable, incurious party pooper, but that’s not going to make me change what or how I teach.”

“Don’t you like it? Go spend 10+ years getting a PhD, post your a** off, jump through hoops to get tenure at an R1, and develop your own boring courses,” he said. he continued.

In a January tweet, Polt joked that if one of his students has a nickname that’s “something animal, you’re legally obligated to tell me so I can say it’s f****** rad.”

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In another tweet, Polt expressed his love for his work.

“Did I mention how much I love that my factual job is to have students read the manga, watch the anime, and discuss talking foxes (and other animals) for 16 weeks ‘Cause yeah, it’s awesome,” he said. writing.

Neither Boston College nor Polt responded to Fox News’ request for comment.

Polt posted on Twitter that Fox News asked “ridiculous questions” regarding his class.

“Thank goodness it’s almost spring break,” he added.

To learn more about furries on campus, click here.