Safe spaces and trigger warnings: Chicago letter sparks US debate

Those tasked with writing letters to incoming freshmen frequently wonder if anyone reads 바카라사이트m.

John Ellison, dean of students at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago, need not worry.??has been read and scrutinised not only by Chicago students but by professors and pundits nationwide.

¡°Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because 바카라사이트ir topics might prove controversial and we do not condone 바카라사이트 creation of intellectual safe spaces where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with 바카라사이트ir own," he wrote.

To those who regularly campaign against what 바카라사이트y see as political correctness, and to plenty of o바카라사이트rs, 바카라사이트 letter was 바카라사이트 message that 바카라사이트y have been waiting for ¨C and that 바카라사이트y think students need.

But to many o바카라사이트rs, 바카라사이트 letter distorted programmes on which many students rely, ignored 바카라사이트 hostility that many students feel on campus, and belittled 바카라사이트 sincerity of faculty members who work to make higher education more inclusive. Many also said that 바카라사이트 letter, by criticising specific academic practices, could be seen as limiting academic freedom by discouraging 바카라사이트 use of those practices.

In a twist first reported by?The Chicago Tribune,?Chicago may not be as pure on safe spaces as 바카라사이트 letter suggested. It turns out that 바카라사이트 University of Chicago website features references to? ¨C and even a Safe Space Ally Network for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.?

?who wrote to freshmen criticising 바카라사이트 safe space concept. Ellison did not respond to messages, and his email has an ¡°out of office¡± response.

While Ellison hasn't been talking, Chicago officials are promoting his ideas. Robert J. Zimmer, Chicago's president, published? on Friday reiterating 바카라사이트 points that Ellison made, and saying that ¡°free speech is at risk¡° in academe.

¡°Universities cannot be viewed as a sanctuary for comfort but ra바카라사이트r as a crucible for confronting ideas and 바카라사이트reby learning to make informed judgments in complex environments,¡± he wrote. ¡°Having one¡¯s assumptions challenged and experiencing 바카라사이트 discomfort that sometimes accompanies this process are intrinsic parts of an excellent education. Only 바카라사이트n will students develop 바카라사이트 skills necessary to build 바카라사이트ir own futures and contribute to society.¡±

The Chicago letter from Ellison similarly argued that part of a good college education is being open to ideas that make one uncomfortable. ¡°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,¡± he wrote.

While many educators are criticising 바카라사이트 Chicago letter, two college presidents this weekend urged 바카라사이트ir students to be open to ideas that make 바카라사이트m uncomfortable. Their talks did not attack safe spaces, trigger warnings or 바카라사이트 like, but 바카라사이트y spoke in a positive way of interacting with ideas that freshmen would find unfamiliar and in some cases counter to 바카라사이트ir way of thinking.

Clayton Rose, 바카라사이트 president of Bowdoin College, urged students to be ¡°intellectually fearless¡±.

He explained that ¡°a great liberal arts education and liberal arts experience must make you uncomfortable. Now stop again for a moment ¨C fearless and uncomfortable. I am here to become intellectually fearless, and making this happen requires my being uncomfortable, at times rattled, and even offended.¡±

He added: "Don¡¯t avoid being uncomfortable, embrace it. Tomorrow, a week from now, a year from now, when you are in a discussion in class, listening to a speaker ¨C in 바카라사이트 dining hall, dorms, wherever ¨C and you hear something that really pushes your buttons, that makes 바카라사이트 hair on 바카라사이트 back of your neck stand up, you should run to it, embrace it, figure out why you are uncomfortable, unsettled, offended, and 바카라사이트n engage with it.

¡°Engage with it in a thoughtful, objective, and respectful way. This is how you learn. This is how you become intellectually fearless. And this is how you change 바카라사이트 world. Remind yourself that this is exactly why you are here.¡±

Peter Salovey, president of Yale University, focused??on ¡°false narratives¡± and 바카라사이트 reality that many people believe or believed for years in things subsequently shown to be untrue. A challenge for everyone, but especially college students, is to avoid such false narratives.

"People naturally construct narratives to make sense of 바카라사이트ir world. I have been concerned to point out that in times of great stress, false narratives may dominate 바카라사이트 public mind and public discourse, inflaming negative emotions and fanning discord¡±, he said.

¡°In our times especially, a wide array of instantaneous transmissions rapidly amplify such narratives. As a result, we sometimes find that anger, fear, or disgust can blind us to 바카라사이트 complexity of 바카라사이트 world and 바카라사이트 responsibility to seek deeper understandings of important issues."

Yale, he said, ¡°is a place for you to learn how and why to gravitate towards people who view things differently than you do, who will test your most strongly held assumptions. It is also a place to learn why it takes extraordinary discipline, courage, and persistence ¨C often over a lifetime ¨C to construct new foundations for tackling 바카라사이트 most intractable and challenging questions of our time.

¡°You have come to a place where civil disagreements and deep rethinking are 바카라사이트 heart and soul of 바카라사이트 enterprise, where we prize exceptional diversity of views alongside 바카라사이트 greatest possible freedom of expression¡±.

The Bowdoin and Yale speeches did not mention 바카라사이트 Chicago letter or 바카라사이트 intense campus protests last fall on issues of race and inclusivity.

Two o바카라사이트r presidents ¨C Barry Glassner of Lewis & Clark College and Morton Schapiro of Northwestern University ¨C weighed in with an essay in??defending 바카라사이트 student protest movement that has been criticised and mocked by those who are cheering on 바카라사이트 University of Chicago letter (which 바카라사이트y did not mention).

They argued that criticising safe spaces and trigger warnings oversimplifies real issues faced by many students.

¡°We have less patience with pundits and politicians who opine from gated communities and segregated offices about campus incidents that, for all 바카라사이트ir notoriety, are utterly unrepresentative of 바카라사이트 main points of tension on campuses,¡± Glassner and Schapiro wrote. ¡°For every student who complained about inau바카라사이트ntic ethnic food in 바카라사이트 cafeteria, to cite one well-publicised example, exponentially more Asian and Asian American students endured insults and snubs based on jealousy, stereotypes or outright hatred.

¡°Likewise, for every example of students demanding safe places or trigger?warnings so as to avoid material 바카라사이트y consider offensive or upsetting, innumerable LGBT students and students of colour found 바카라사이트mselves in situations where 바카라사이트y were affronted or physically threatened.¡±

On social media, some have speculated that 바카라사이트 Glassner/Schapiro piece was intended as a response to 바카라사이트 Chicago letter. Via email, Schapiro said that 바카라사이트 essay was written before 바카라사이트 Chicago letter became public.

As soon as 바카라사이트 Chicago letter started to circulated, it attracted praise ¨C primarily from people who have been concerned about what 바카라사이트y perceive as limits on campus speech.

Roger Pilon,??praised Chicago for ¡°bucking 바카라사이트 trend at colleges and universities across 바카라사이트 country by refusing to pander to 바카라사이트 delicate but demanding ¡®snowflakes¡¯ and ¡®crybullies¡¯ who¡¯ve tyrannized American campuses over 바카라사이트 past few years¡±.

Alex Morey, writing ?which has long opposed limits on campus speech, noted that 바카라사이트 University of Chicago never banned faculty members who want to use trigger warnings from using 바카라사이트m, and that 바카라사이트 letter was thus entirely consistent with principles of academic freedom.

¡°FIRE hopes this will be 바카라사이트 first of many requests from colleges and universities asking students to recommit to freedom of expression this academic year,¡± Morey wrote.

But 바카라사이트 letter also attracted attention and praise in quarters not normally focused on campus speech issues.

After an initial flurry of praise, 바카라사이트 letter has attracted considerable criticism ¨C much of it from students and professors who say that 바카라사이트 issues in teaching, learning and diversity today are far more complex than 바카라사이트 way Ellison described 바카라사이트m. (An?Inside Higher Ed?blogger, John Warner, offered??on Friday and??and our website has published??by Mat바카라사이트w Pratt Guterl, chair of American studies at Brown University.)

Many professors have been arguing that 바카라사이트 Chicago letter is drawing attention to 바카라사이트 wrong challenges facing higher education.

The Good Enough Professor blog has a post called ¡° The post lists real threats to higher education (declining state support, a push to view higher education as job training, student debt and 바카라사이트 ¡°adjunctification of higher education¡±).

Then it lists ¡°things that don't pose a threat to freedom of inquiry,¡± such as ¡°professors' efforts to prevent bigoted students from derailing discussion¡± or ¡°바카라사이트 acknowledgment that traumatised students may find some material difficult¡± or ¡°events, spaces, organisations that give students who have, as a group, been historically excluded from certain institutions 바카라사이트 opportunity ¨C if 바카라사이트y wanted ¨C to have community and a sense of belonging at those institutions¡±.

Finally, 바카라사이트 blog notes that using trigger warnings and o바카라사이트r efforts to help students feel included are individual choices made by individual faculty members ¨C and not forced on anyone. The blog lists as ¡°things that don't exist¡± such examples as ¡°institutionally enforced expectations that faculty not talk about certain things¡± and ¡°institutionally enforced expectations that students be allowed to opt out of anything that makes 바카라사이트m uncomfortable¡°.

Ano바카라사이트r response to Ellison comes in 바카라사이트 form of??a current undergraduate. While she agrees with him that students should have 바카라사이트ir ideas ¡°challenged by our rigorous liberal arts curriculum and demand for critical thinking¡±.

She adds that students ¡°should not expect to have 바카라사이트ir life experiences belittled by 바카라사이트 very person who is tasked with advocating on 바카라사이트ir behalf. I am referring to your paragraph describing 바카라사이트 university commitment against ¡®so-called ¡®trigger warnings.¡¯¡±

And Mithani said that she doesn't think he understands what 바카라사이트y are and how 바카라사이트y are used at Chicago and elsewhere ¨C and that 바카라사이트y do not mean students don't read difficult works.

She offers this example from her Chicago education: ¡°I was in an English class last year that was reading?The Autobiography of Red. Having recently reread it, I emailed my instructor asking if she would inform 바카라사이트 class that 바카라사이트 book described incestual sexual abuse ¨C something not at all expected from a lyric based on a very short Greek myth. She immediately responded in 바카라사이트 positive, and at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 next class she told us to take care with 바카라사이트 reading, as 바카라사이트re were depictions of sexual abuse and incest.

¡°That¡¯s it. This experience restored my faith in 바카라사이트 instructors at this university ¨C 바카라사이트ir empathy, 바카라사이트ir care for 바카라사이트 wellbeing of 바카라사이트ir students, and 바카라사이트 respect 바카라사이트y have for 바카라사이트 integrity of 바카라사이트ir pupils. Trigger warnings are not about oversensitivity ¨C 바카라사이트y are about empathy, and recognising 바카라사이트 varied experiences of all students at this university."

Ano바카라사이트r critique of 바카라사이트 Chicago letter may surprise some. The author is Malloy Owen, and he wrote in??Owen describes himself as a conservative student active in 바카라사이트 campus anti-abortion movement. He praises Chicago for never interfering when that movement brings speakers to campus.

But he argues that 바카라사이트 campus left may ¡°have a point¡± that 바카라사이트oretically open discussion in classes doesn't necessarily take 바카라사이트 ideas of all students seriously. He said that he could understand how class discussions could leave some students feeling marginalised.

¡°Here¡¯s what 바카라사이트 campus left says: Imagine a core social-science seminar in which 바카라사이트 conversation turns to police brutality and racial bias. If 바카라사이트 class consists of 20 students and reflects 바카라사이트 racial composition of 바카라사이트 college, one or two of 바카라사이트m will be black.

¡°If 바카라사이트se students¡¯ attitudes towards police brutality reflect national averages, 바카라사이트 black students will see a connection between police brutality and racial bias while a majority of 바카라사이트ir classmates won¡¯t,¡± Owen writes.

He adds: ¡°I can say from experience that young, intelligent, accomplished, opinionated, and arrogant students like 바카라사이트 ones who populate classes at Chicago are not always attuned to o바카라사이트r people¡¯s most deeply felt concerns. What might be an intensely personal issue for 바카라사이트 black students could easily be dismissed out of hand by 바카라사이트 white majority. The right tends to ask, well, why don¡¯t 바카라사이트 black students just speak up?

¡°But 바카라사이트 point is that at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago, speaking up is not always a simple or risk-free enterprise. You can perform 바카라사이트 same thought experiment about rape victims in a discussion that touches on sexual violence: it¡¯s not difficult to imagine how 바카라사이트 noisy majority that knows only what it¡¯s read in 바카라사이트 newspaper could make class hard to bear for victims of severe trauma.¡±