by Maya Koeppen ‘17

Students have heard the stories of school systems banning books for having “provocative” themes, explicit language and other content deemed inappropriate. On some college campuses nationwide, some argue that censorship has taken the form of trigger warnings and safe spaces, resulting in a flood of support and criticism, from students and faculty alike.

Controversy arose this August when the University of Chicago sent out an administrative letter to incoming freshman denouncing the use of such practices at the start of the school year. In the letter, the school’s dean, John Ellison, voices the institution’s commitment to “freedom of inquiry and expression” as well as noting that the campus will not revoke an invited guest on the basis of their topic. The school’s faculty later countered the dean’s statement with their own letter to students, in which they criticize efforts to prohibit trigger warnings, and the debate still remains as to where schools should draw the line between protecting their students and hindering academic freedom.

Trigger warnings first found their origin on social media sites such as Twitter and Tumblr as a way to alert users of potential
exposure to undesirable content. The warnings initially served to prevent victims of traumatic incidents or users suffering from severe mental illnesses from being upset or “triggered” by the site’s content. It was not until trigger warnings found their way into college syllabi, that the definition of the warnings began to take on a much broader meaning. Following increasing student demand, educational institutions took to the practice and expanded it to apply to students who may be negatively impacted by sexism, classism or other possibly offensive beliefs.

What one defines as a safe space depends on who you ask. Despite a fuzzy definition, the creation of such spaces is often found in correlation with the growing presence of minority groups on college campuses today. They are commonly described as a place in which like-minded individuals can have intellectual conversation without the fear of having to defend or explain themselves to others unnecessarily.

English resource teacher Shelley Jackson has addressed sensitive topics in her classes and worries that the mandating of such practices will put up a barrier between students and their education. “My fear with those things is that we are opening up a world where anytime somebody hears something they don’t want to hear or don’t agree with, they feel entitled not to have to hear it and that’s trouble in a lot of cases,” said Jackson.

Advocates for the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces believe they are crucial to ensuring all students regardless of race, sexual orientation and gender have a comfortable learning environment. Without them, proponents fear that schools will begin to foster feelings of mistrust among those impacted. Meanwhile, staunch opponents to the practices argue that they only hurt educators and students in the long run by halting any means of intellectual progress, and intruding upon free speech rights in the process.

“Honestly, I feel like education should make us all a little uncomfortable,”said Jackson.

Jen Cort, a former middle school principal of Sandy Spring Friends School, works to make schools more harmonious and safe for students. As an advocate for student freedom, she believes that it is best when a teacher establishes a mutual bond with their students in which they feel comfortable addressing their issues with the curriculum on an individual basis. “It is more about letting kids know there’s a resource and we [as teachers] are here to help you,” said Cort.