"I see a defensiveness to reactions generated by unfortunate remarks"
Oh, great. The shrink is here. Is there no escaping psychoanalysis in this world anymore? Sometimes a smart-aleck is just a smart-aleck and that has nothing to do with your son, who I am sure is a very nice individual. Okay, I'm not really sure of that, but I will assume it. I'll try to take it for granted, but I'm not promising anything. I'm not here for remote assessment by telepathetic analyst's, I'm here to have fun. You might want to consider giving that a try sometime.
Another defensive reaction formation. If you are an example of what the colleges not named after states produces, it's a blot on the Ivy League.