Thoughts on higher education

As many of you know, my boyfriend began his first semester at Columbia College this fall. Something he said to me about their department really stuck out to me. He was told by his mentor in the department that the program is designed to make the students hate writing. Why, as educators, would they want to do this? I really can't fathom it. I know that Columbia College has open admissions, and the programs are designed to be hard so that they only keep those students who are really passionate and talented, but teaching students to hate their career path seems a bit harsh. As an educator my goal has always been to encourage students and to fuel passion for the arts, so this just seems so off to me. Thoughts?