why is danny miserable by the end of the first week of college?

Danny is thoroughly miserable in Samson Raphael Hirsch College, for his psychology professor, Nathan Appleman, has an intense dislike for psychoanalysis in general and for Freud in particular. Danny dislikes the focus on experimental psychology, wondering "What do rats and mazes have to do with the mind?" Hirsch College is near a large Catholic church, and the crucifix on the church lawn shines onto Hirsch.