Only a few days ago, the prestigious University of Chicago declared that they would not welcome trigger warnings and safe spaces.
“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.”
And it seemed that maybe we had turned the corner on the oversensitivity by students on college campuses around the country.
WRONG!!!
The Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University just announced that they would gladly embrace the coddling of infantilized college students by offering a safe space on campus. This safe space will not be a make-believe safe space. There will be a physical area designated as a safe space to protect special snowflakes from the scary, scary concept of different ideas and viewpoints.
The Duke Chronicle details the new safe space:
During the past year, the Sanford Committee on Diversity and Inclusion has been working on setting up a physical “safe space” of its own, said Kathryn Whetten, committee co-chair and a research professor of global health.
The room—called the “Sanford Safe Space”—will make its debut this year in Rubenstein 120, Whetten’s old office. She said the room will be an experiment in helping people heal, and that a social worker will also be present. The door will be open to all groups, she said, ranging from minorities to military members to conservatives.
“We want to have a place for people who feel marginalized and face constant attention for characteristics that are immutable—like their skin color or their religion, their immigration status or whether they’re from another country—to be able to heal,” she said.
In addition to the safe space, the Sanford School is looking to set up a discussion series throughout the year that will tackle issues of free speech, microaggressions and challenges like policing that are being grappled with worldwide.
Healing? Really? Healing? From words that present a different perspective than what you subscribe to?
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It states that “conservatives” are welcome to use the safe space room, but how fast would a person wearing a “VOTE DONALD TRUMP” t-shirt get kicked out of the safe space? Based on the ludicrous reactions from The Chalkening, I imagine their removal would be nearly instant.
I hate to break it you, buuuuuut there are no special safe spaces on the floor of New York Wall Street trading floor. There are no special safe spaces in a courtroom. There are no special safe spaces on the International Space Station. There are no special safe spaces on the field during the Super Bowl. There are no special safe spaces in the REAL world.
The Sanford School of Public Policy is doing a grave disservice to their students by not preparing them for the real world and creating this imaginary fairy tale land where words hurt and you can hide from a differing opinion.
Colleges and universities should be places where students are exposed to a myriad of ideas and voices so that they can gauge what resonates best with them. Then they can explore those belief systems in more depth and maybe adopt concepts that they may not have ever been exposed to at their hometown high school. Hearing opposing viewpoints from others makes you a better individual because it allows you to engage in healthy and respectful discourse. Then you can prove that your point is the correct one and make your rival look like a fucking clown as you destroy them with your knowledge. Sitting in an echo chamber with your thumb in your mouth and your teddy bear in your hand ONLY hearing soothing opinions that you agree with makes you less likely to be able to handle conflicting convictions by others. That is important because in the real world, the person who might not agree with you very well might be your boss, and there is no safe space. There is only the unemployment line.