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UChicago Dean to Incoming Class: No "Safe Spaces" or "Trigger Warnings"

posted by martyb on Friday August 26 2016, @10:37PM   
from the beware-Roy-Rogers'-horse? dept.

AthanasiusKircher writes:

Recent reporting and discussions here about "trolls" and the "culture of hate" (both con and pro) have repeatedly broached the topic of what appropriate limits to free expression might be.

Dean of Students John Ellison at the University of Chicago has taken a stand on the issue in a letter welcoming new students. He writes:

Once here you will discover that one of the University of Chicago's defining characteristics is our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression. [...] Members of our community are encouraged to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn, without fear of censorship. Civility and mutual respect are vital to all of us, and freedom of expression does not mean the freedom to harass or threaten others. You will find that we expect members of our community to be engaged in rigorous debate, discussion, and even disagreement. At times this may challenge you and even cause discomfort.

Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so called 'trigger warnings,' we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.

While some have voiced support for Ellison's commitment to free expression (with Robby Soave at Reason encouraging readers to give the dean "a round of applause"), others are concerned about the implications of his message. L.V. Anderson at Slate agrees with much of the letter's content promoting "civility and mutual respect," but finds the last paragraph quoted above to be "weird" and unsettling:

By deriding "safe spaces" and "trigger warnings" before students arrive on campus, the University of Chicago is inadvertently sending a message that certain students—the ones who have never been traumatized, and the ones who have historically felt welcome on college campuses (i.e., white men)—are more welcome than others, and that students who feel marginalized are unlikely to have their claims taken seriously. Adults who decry "the coddling of the American mind" will likely celebrate U. Chicago's preemptive strike against political correctness, but students who have experienced violence, LGBTQ students, and students of color likely will not.

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Original Submission

• Re:Should be obvious - but it isn't (Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Saturday August 27 2016, @08:55AM

  by janrinok (52) on Saturday August 27 2016, @08:55AM (#393887) Journal

  My view on this is that if you need trigger warnings, safe spaces, and can't stand to be in earshot of speakers with viewpoints different from yours, then you have no place on a college campus any more than a two year old does playing in traffic. You're just not grown up enough to handle what a college provides.

  And my view is that if you can't express yourself without using abusive and/or denigrating language then you need therapy. The purpose of free speech in an academic environment is to facilitate robust exchange of ideas, not to hurl abuse at one another. If you can't meet that rather low bar then perhaps you are not yet ready for what a college provides either. Just sayin'.

  And I am sitting here wondering what on earth you found in the first quotation that you found 'abusive or denigrating'? If someone cannot cope with alternative viewpoints or robust discussion then the first quotation is absolutely spot on. Just sayin'.

  Parent

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