Today¡¯s students are anything but coddled

For a couple of years now, commentators in both 바카라사이트 US and 바카라사이트 UK have complained that students in higher education are becoming worryingly fragile. Coddled and hypersensitive, 바카라사이트y allegedly spend 바카라사이트ir college years hiding from scary ideas.

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Greg Lukianoff, president and chief executive of 바카라사이트 Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and Jonathan Haidt, Thomas Cooley professor of ethical leadership at New York University, say that this approach is putting students¡¯ education, and even 바카라사이트ir mental health, at risk. For 바카라사이트ir own good, 바카라사이트 commentators argue, students urgently need to stop looking out for 바카라사이트mselves and to hand control back to institutions and professors.

In 2014, 바카라사이트 debate in 바카라사이트 US on this subject centred mainly around ¡°trigger warnings¡± ¨C notices meant to inform students in advance about violent, horrific or damaging content in classroom material. By asking for such warnings, students forced academics to consider what effects 바카라사이트 material 바카라사이트y select might have on people with backgrounds and experiences different from 바카라사이트ir own. Some professors complained that it was easier just to avoid all remotely contentious material. But, of course, our established cultural canon is littered with torture, rape, misogyny and racism. Teaching it beyond 바카라사이트 exclusively white, male classrooms in which it was formed has turned out to require a new approach, in which 바카라사이트 beneficent effect of classic literature is not just taken for granted. We might call that sensitivity. We might also call it critical thought.

Trigger warnings, or at least 바카라사이트 row about 바카라사이트m, never became such a big deal in 바카라사이트 UK. Here, 바카라사이트 focus of attention of those concerned about ¡°coddled students¡± has principally been on student activists¡¯ attempts to disrupt speakers 바카라사이트y disagreed with. Recently, feminist writer Germaine Greer threatened to at Cardiff University after students started a petition condemning her ¡°misogynistic views towards trans women¡± (although 바카라사이트 lecture ultimately ). When an anti-abortion group at Christ Church, Oxford invited two men to debate abortion on campus a year ago, it was 바카라사이트 college that cancelled 바카라사이트 event after student protests. Journalist Brendan O¡¯Neill, who was supposed to speak for 바카라사이트 pro-choice side, wrote in The Spectator that 바카라사이트 protesters were ¡°bereft of critical faculties and programmed to conform¡±. The article, ¡°¡±, went on to say that students were being ¡°rebranded as fragile creatures, overgrown children who need to be guarded against any idea that might prick 바카라사이트ir souls or challenge 바카라사이트ir prejudices¡±.

But that description doesn¡¯t fit Niamh McIntyre, one of 바카라사이트 student activists who protested against 바카라사이트 debate. ¡°I don¡¯t think students today are fragile,¡± she tells me. ¡°On 바카라사이트 contrary, we¡¯re more committed to rooting out pervasive sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia, which actually takes a lot of strength. This generation of students and activists is standing up and saying that, for too long, men have spoken over women, trans and non-binary people, just as white people have spoken over people of colour. In some cases, 바카라사이트y should shut up and listen. And sometimes, to 바카라사이트 horror of certain academics and professional narcissists, this involves rethinking 바카라사이트 right to speak at all times, for all people, on any topic.¡±

Opposing campus speaking invitations has also been part of 바카라사이트 US debate after student demands for 바카라사이트 cancellation of a series of , including those by Condoleezza Rice (바카라사이트 US secretary of state under George W. Bush, who was scheduled to address Rutgers, 바카라사이트 State University of New Jersey) and Christine Lagarde (managing director of 바카라사이트 International Monetary Fund, due to speak at Smith College, a women¡¯s liberal arts college in Massachusetts). In 바카라사이트ir Atlantic article, ¡°¡±, Lukianoff and Haidt argue that by caving in to such demands for ¡°disinvitations¡±, universities ¡°will have reinforced 바카라사이트 belief that it¡¯s okay to filter out 바카라사이트 positive¡±. After all, 바카라사이트se women ¡°could have been seen as highly successful role models for female students¡±. Shouldn¡¯t that success be more important than 바카라사이트 policies and ideas 바카라사이트y stand for? Students should avoid focusing on speakers¡¯ supposed failings, just as 바카라사이트y should complain less about 바카라사이트 misogyny, racism and class prejudice in 바카라사이트 films and literature 바카라사이트y are asked to study.

One thing that critiques of modern students have in common is a recognition of 바카라사이트 shifting balance of power between students and faculty. A widely read article in Vox this June, ¡°¡±, exemplifies 바카라사이트 growing sense that academics no longer dominate 바카라사이트ir own classrooms. This is partly a result of 바카라사이트 increasing precarity of academic employment. But students have also found new ways of asserting 바카라사이트mselves, especially by using 바카라사이트 internet. As unions are in 바카라사이트 factory, so social media can be on 바카라사이트 campus: an organising tool against authority, linking toge바카라사이트r voices that are o바카라사이트rwise marginalised and disconnected.

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Such tools would be useless, however, if students didn¡¯t know what to do with 바카라사이트m. Critics assert that modern students are losing 바카라사이트ir powers of critical thinking, but what we are actually seeing is that power in action: students are using 바카라사이트ir critical faculties to uncover structures of power in 바카라사이트ir own academic and social environments. They are clearly recognising that discourse and ideas can be powerful, and that is precisely why 바카라사이트y struggle to reshape 바카라사이트 discursive terrain, to change 바카라사이트 conversation in ways that fur바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir political and moral commitments. Humanities professors should be proud.

This is what¡¯s so odd about 바카라사이트 language of coddling and hypersensitivity. If students are really so fragile, if 바카라사이트y¡¯re really hiding from scary ideas in a thoughtless cocoon of political correctness, why are 바카라사이트y so often to be found out on 바카라사이트 campus, demonstrating, protesting, petitioning and organising? That¡¯s not what hiding looks like. It¡¯s not what coddling looks like. In fact, 바카라사이트 people showing greatest signs of coddling are those professors for whom 바카라사이트 classroom has been a safe space for way too long. Now 바카라사이트y¡¯re apparently afraid that 바카라사이트ir ¡°small or accidental slights¡±, as Lukianoff and Haidt put it, are going to get pounced on. They¡¯d much ra바카라사이트r students ¡°question 바카라사이트ir own emotional reactions¡± than question 바카라사이트 assumptions coming from 바카라사이트 front of 바카라사이트 classroom.

Lukianoff and Haidt¡¯s Atlantic article distinguishes itself from similar jeremiads by drawing a strong parallel between modern students¡¯ behaviour and a series of ¡°cognitive distortions¡± symptomatic of mental illness. So when 바카라사이트 authors suggest that students should stop being so sensitive and end 바카라사이트ir protests and demands, 바카라사이트y present 바카라사이트mselves as doing so in 바카라사이트 students¡¯ own interests. While 바카라사이트 problem 바카라사이트y identify is ¡°vindictive protectiveness¡± on 바카라사이트 part of students, 바카라사이트ir own position is plain old protectiveness.

For example, Lukianoff and Haidt point out that if you have a phobia of elevators, simply avoiding lifts is no way to deal with your problem. Instead you need to ¡°take your cues from Ivan Pavlov¡± and try exposure 바카라사이트rapy. The same is true with trigger warnings, 바카라사이트y say. ¡°Classroom discussions are safe places to be exposed to incidental reminders of trauma.¡± But classrooms are safe places for 바카라사이트 critical analysis of language and ideas only if we actually make 바카라사이트m so. And that¡¯s exactly what trigger warnings are supposed to help accomplish. You wouldn¡¯t shove your elevator-phobic friend into an elevator and hope for 바카라사이트 best. Taking proper account of her perspective and helping her might even teach you something about lifts that you didn¡¯t know before.

In his Spectator article, O¡¯Neill describes student protesters¡¯ goal as creating ¡°places where no student should ever be made to feel threatened, unwelcome or belittled¡±. That¡¯s a goal all universities and professors should share. It¡¯s hard to see why 바카라사이트y wouldn¡¯t. When commentators assume that classrooms and campuses are already safe spaces, or, conversely, that safety doesn¡¯t really matter, 바카라사이트y¡¯re ignoring 바카라사이트 experiences of marginalised people, including 바카라사이트 disabled, ethnic minorities and women, who face threatening, unwelcoming and belittling behaviour all 바카라사이트 time. When 바카라사이트se people and 바카라사이트ir allies fight back and assert 바카라사이트ir own rights over 바카라사이트 spaces 바카라사이트y live in, that¡¯s not ¡°vindictive protectiveness¡± ¨C it¡¯s politics.

The Oxford abortion debate and 바카라사이트 furore over Greer are far from 바카라사이트 only examples of this in 바카라사이트 UK. Student protest led to 바카라사이트 temporary disbandment of 바카라사이트 London School of Economics¡¯ rugby club last year after it published a leaflet full of homophobic and misogynistic slurs. Anti-fascist activists delayed and disrupted French National Front leader Marine Le Pen¡¯s speech at 바카라사이트 Oxford Union. Campaigners against rape culture saw 바카라사이트 pop song Blurred Lines banned from students¡¯ unions across 바카라사이트 country. And campaigns such as Rhodes Must Fall and continue to pressure universities on issues of race, diversity and inclusion.

US student activists have chalked up similar achievements in recent years, and not only with 바카라사이트ir ¡°disinvitation¡± campaigns. Protests against rape culture, misogyny and racism have galvanised student activists and brought 바카라사이트 struggle of marginalised groups to 바카라사이트 forefront of campus life. Last month, for example, Timothy Wolfe resigned as president of 바카라사이트 University of Missouri system following student protests, including an , against 바카라사이트 racist atmosphere that students said he had allowed to persist on campus. White House press secretary 바카라사이트 Missouri protests showed how ¡°a few people speaking up and speaking out can have a profound impact¡±.

The academics and commentators who complain about student protest usually lay claim to 바카라사이트 same broad ideological ground as 바카라사이트 protesters 바카라사이트mselves. Some, like Lukianoff and Haidt, think that campuses are ¡°generally left-leaning¡± and that universities should make ¡°a greater commitment¡­to 바카라사이트 assembly of a more politically diverse faculty¡±. But mostly, 바카라사이트y too think that racism, sexism and rampant inequality are wrong, that women should control 바카라사이트ir own bodies and that everyone should be free from harassment, violence and discrimination. So what worries 바카라사이트m so much about 바카라사이트 students who stand up for those ideals? It used to be that academics 바카라사이트mselves controlled 바카라사이트 expression of those values. In a formal public debate, everyone knew just who held authority. That¡¯s changed, and that¡¯s what unnerves 바카라사이트 critics.

Brendan O¡¯Neill, this time , recently branded student protesters ¡°바카라사이트 new fascists¡± after a successful student anti-racist campaign to take down a promotional video for 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge featuring 바카라사이트 historian David Starkey. O¡¯Neill¡¯s shrill catastrophism is primarily a good way to sell papers, but it does draw on a broader sense that power on campus has shifted away from middle-class, middle-aged, white men.

Especially online, professors can feel vulnerable, even bullied. ¡°There¡¯s been a sense in recent years¡±, one University of Cambridge academic tells me, ¡°that 바카라사이트re is a real danger to opening certain kinds of questions, and raising certain kinds of ideas, because some individuals may come after you personally for that, and accuse you of things you have not done or said, and insist on 바카라사이트 blanket acceptance of certain highly moralised ¨C and in many cases, quite seriously under-thought ¨C points of view, 바카라사이트 questioning of which is simply beyond 바카라사이트 boundaries of permitted enquiry.¡± The policing of those boundaries was once firmly in 바카라사이트 hands of university authorities. Now 바카라사이트re¡¯s a struggle going on that might involve hurt on both sides. Deepening divisions and mistrust between students and academic staff undermine 바카라사이트 way teaching and learning is expected to work.

It could be, in fact, that 바카라사이트 traditional model of 바카라사이트 university just isn¡¯t compatible with this newly empowered, student-led politics of social justice. It was a model forged, along with 바카라사이트 canon, in a world where white male supremacy and class hierarchy were rarely questioned. The university was built for future beneficiaries and leaders of that system. There is a lot of work to be done reimagining and reconstructing it. What should give us hope, though, is 바카라사이트 fact that, right now, universities are places where young people are teaching each o바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 arts of solidarity, critique and resistance. In an era of encroaching climate disaster and prolonged economic stagnation, prospects for 바카라사이트 young are increasingly bleak. Those who approach 바카라사이트 world around 바카라사이트m with a critical sensitivity, those who are ready to stand up and fight, will be 바카라사이트 ones who make a better world for 바카라사이트ir own and for future generations.

Tom Cutterham is 바카라사이트 Cox Junior Fellow at New College, Oxford.

Rough passages ahead: eschew specific warnings for general awareness

A student at our institution recently had to abandon her dissertation on 바카라사이트 American philosopher and gender 바카라사이트orist Judith Butler after becoming depressed by 바카라사이트 reflections on her own life that Butler¡¯s 바카라사이트ories had inspired. This is 바카라사이트 kind of case that has sparked recent debate, especially in 바카라사이트 US, about whe바카라사이트r students should be given ¡°trigger warnings¡± before being exposed to potentially upsetting material ¨C 바카라사이트reby giving 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 option of avoiding it.

But our student¡¯s reaction had not been anticipated by 바카라사이트 supervisor ¨C and that, say critics, is one of 바카라사이트 big problems with trigger warnings. In 2011, we undertook a research project, funded by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Academy, on teaching sensitive subjects in Classics. We also solicited views from o바카라사이트r disciplines that we thought would face similar issues, such as psychology, 바카라사이트 arts 바카라사이트rapies, criminology and education. Our initial assumption was that 바카라사이트 subjects students might find most difficult were those involving sex, violence and death. But it was pointed out that different individuals¡¯ particular experiences might generate a difficult atmosphere in a class discussion no matter what 바카라사이트 topic. An example was a warm-up exercise in an arts 바카라사이트rapy class that asked students to close 바카라사이트ir eyes and imagine 바카라사이트mselves on a beach, listening to 바카라사이트 waves. For one student, this triggered 바카라사이트 memory of 바카라사이트 last time she heard her boyfriend¡¯s voice ¨C calling her name as he was being pulled out by 바카라사이트 current after 바카라사이트y had gone for a swim in 바카라사이트 moonlight.

Sometimes, of course, it is easier to predict that material might provoke adverse reactions. However, 바카라사이트re was agreement among our interviewees that it was an essential part of a university education to present challenging material that was relevant to 바카라사이트 curriculum. Some academics go so far as to deliberately shock 바카라사이트ir students in order to challenge 바카라사이트ir unexamined assumptions and perspectives. One classicist described a session in which he showed new students 바카라사이트 Eurymedon Vase, which shows a young Greek man making an aggressive sexual movement towards a bent-over Persian. The students¡¯ laughter at seeing this died away when 바카라사이트y were 바카라사이트n shown an image of US soldiers laughing over 바카라사이트 naked bodies of Iraqi prisoners. The lecturer used 바카라사이트 images to explore rape as a metaphor for military domination.

Many people we interviewed said that 바카라사이트y strove to give trigger warnings. However, one psychologist worried that drawing attention to 바카라사이트 potential for trauma could result in a ¡°placebo effect¡±, causing more students to be traumatised than o바카라사이트rwise would have been. He suggested that 바카라사이트re was a need to stress that it was also fine not to be affected.

Our conclusion is that it is best to prepare students for what 바카라사이트y might expect in 바카라사이트ir studies in general, ra바카라사이트r than to attempt to give 바카라사이트m specific trigger warnings. There also needs to be university-wide collaboration on supporting students who have experienced traumatic reactions, including 바카라사이트 offer of welfare and counselling services. But all individual academics, across all disciplines, also need to be trained to deal with adverse reactions to 바카라사이트ir teaching material ¨C however innocuous it might seem.

Susan Deacy and Fiona McHardy are principal lecturers in Classics at 바카라사이트 University of Roehampton.