University of Chicago on Trigger Warnings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a silly marketing ploy at the expense of actually welcoming students--ooh look at us heroically pushing back against forces of illiberality. I saw one college president say that instead of coddling students they are just coddling donors.

It may be a “silly marketing ploy,” but as a parent who funded the college education of two kids, I appreciate it.
Good for them.
There are not enough colleges that get in the news for the right reasons.

+1.

I believe it was both smart and brave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a silly marketing ploy at the expense of actually welcoming students--ooh look at us heroically pushing back against forces of illiberality. I saw one college president say that instead of coddling students they are just coddling donors.

It may be a “silly marketing ploy,” but as a parent who funded the college education of two kids, I appreciate it.
Good for them.
There are not enough colleges that get in the news for the right reasons.

+1.

I believe it was both smart and brave.

I agree yet most posters' kids will not be getting into the University of Chicago. But admiring from a distance is free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a silly marketing ploy at the expense of actually welcoming students--ooh look at us heroically pushing back against forces of illiberality. I saw one college president say that instead of coddling students they are just coddling donors.

It may be a “silly marketing ploy,” but as a parent who funded the college education of two kids, I appreciate it.
Good for them.
There are not enough colleges that get in the news for the right reasons.

+1.

I believe it was both smart and brave.

I agree yet most posters' kids will not be getting into the University of Chicago. But admiring from a distance is free.

My kid has a very good shot of getting in and this pushed the U of C to the top of his list. He had already crossed off most of the Ivy's because what he views as a shutting down of free exchange of ideas and open discussion on campus--and this is not a right-wing kid. As said something to the effect of, "College is not only supposed to prepare us academically to enter the workforce. It is a time to prepare students socially and emotionally to enter the world beyond academia. We won't be prepared if we cannot learn to work with those with whom we do not agree, have the ability to discuss and freely have open exchange of ideas, and to freely change ideas and thoughts from a multitude of perspectives. Shutting down discussion, cancelling speakers, and refusing to live with or near someone because we do not share the same politics, gender, race etc., will not serve the individual or the general populace well in the long run." We need more universities stepping up to the plate and performing the role of educating students and not hindering their development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kudos. Mega kudos to U. Chicago. A serious school. Too bad it is so tough to get into.
Scratched Claremont-McKenna from our list and Yale after the screamer lady bullshit that the admin. actually caved in to rather than stood up to.

Y

Yale +1

[Anonymous]

Go University of Chicago!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kudos. Mega kudos to U. Chicago. A serious school. Too bad it is so tough to get into.
Scratched Claremont-McKenna from our list and Yale after the screamer lady bullshit that the admin. actually caved in to rather than stood up to.

Y

Yale +1

My son crossed off both schools, also.

[Anonymous]

Yea. Less competition!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yea. Less competition!

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a silly marketing ploy at the expense of actually welcoming students--ooh look at us heroically pushing back against forces of illiberality. I saw one college president say that instead of coddling students they are just coddling donors.

It may be a “silly marketing ploy,” but as a parent who funded the college education of two kids, I appreciate it.
Good for them.
There are not enough colleges that get in the news for the right reasons.

+1.

I believe it was both smart and brave.

I agree yet most posters' kids will not be getting into the University of Chicago. But admiring from a distance is free.

My kid has a very good shot of getting in and this pushed the U of C to the top of his list. He had already crossed off most of the Ivy's because what he views as a shutting down of free exchange of ideas and open discussion on campus--and this is not a right-wing kid. As said something to the effect of, "College is not only supposed to prepare us academically to enter the workforce. It is a time to prepare students socially and emotionally to enter the world beyond academia. We won't be prepared if we cannot learn to work with those with whom we do not agree, have the ability to discuss and freely have open exchange of ideas, and to freely change ideas and thoughts from a multitude of perspectives. Shutting down discussion, cancelling speakers, and refusing to live with or near someone because we do not share the same politics, gender, race etc., will not serve the individual or the general populace well in the long run." We need more universities stepping up to the plate and performing the role of educating students and not hindering their development.

There are millions of people who won't live next door to cross burners simply to appease those for the sake of an open exchange of ideas. Not everyone wants to work with someone whose purpose is to demoralize and denigrate.

When I hear it on television, I change channels or turn it off. I have the right not to engage in certain types of free speech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UofC sent a letter to its incoming first-years clarifying the College's stance against trigger warnings and intellectual safe spaces. Read the letter here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/08/25/dont-ask-us-for-trigger-warnings-or-safe-spaces-the-university-of-chicago-tells-freshmen/

FWIW, I'm a professor in the humanities, politically very liberal, and I am glad that the UofC is taking this stance. (Yes, I would not only support Donald Trump coming to speak to my university, but I would encourage all my students to listen to him speak with an open, yet critical, mind. I would also encourage them to ask challenging questions if such an opportunity arose.) I firmly believe that all students ought to be exposed to different ideas and perspectives and learn to engage in civil discourse with people who hold those views and have had different life experiences.

I wish I had you as a prof back in the day.

WOW - typical liberals are usually very closed minded! GOod for you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does this work fairly for actual victims of rape or military vets or gays who have PTSD from actual trauma? Is it not fair to afford them a trigger warning for material that may indeed trigger a PTSD episode?

Don't people with PTSD need psychiatric treatment, not trigger warnings? I don't understand how you can be in college and study literature or history or (insert probably many different disciplines here) and not be exposed to some pretty dreadful stuff. I don't have PTSD but I majored in Russian and couldn't eat or sleep for three days after I read book I of the Gulag Archipelago. If I HAD PTSD...what would a trigger warning have done? It's not like there's an alternate reading you can do if you're studying 20th century Soviet history, that lets you avoid hearing about the sick shit they did to political prisoners. I just don't get what trigger warnings are supposed to do in the classroom. If you're so emotionally fragile that you can't read a book or participate in a seminar or listen to a lecture, you need treatment. You can't handle college, which is already a pretty "safe space" compared to the real world.

+1

There is no cure for PTSD, only management of symptoms. It's courteous to forewarn people if class discussion will center around potentially traumatic material (child molestation, warfare, rape, human trafficking etc). With literature a victim has the option of putting the book down - if suddenly confronted with the topic being discussed, they can be retraumatized, shocked etc and feel uncomfortable just walking out.

I don't think this is the PC police run amok, I think it has to do with common courtesy springing from a broader knowledge of trauma in the world.

But isn't UofC saying they aren't going to provide blanket trigger warnings when students should reasonably expect that they will be exposed to potentially disturbing material as part of a liberal arts education? How do you take a history class without discussing warfare? How do you study art history without looking at pictures of rape? If you are an elite college, its not unreasonable to say to students--we're preparing you to be adults, and that means being capable of owning your shit, and if you have stuff to deal with here is an environment where you will learn how to do that and we're telling you now, you better be able to handle it. That's the warning.

Having PTSD does not mean you cannot "handle your own shit." Your post is a great example of how little the general public knows about trauma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does this work fairly for actual victims of rape or military vets or gays who have PTSD from actual trauma? Is it not fair to afford them a trigger warning for material that may indeed trigger a PTSD episode?

Don't people with PTSD need psychiatric treatment, not trigger warnings? I don't understand how you can be in college and study literature or history or (insert probably many different disciplines here) and not be exposed to some pretty dreadful stuff. I don't have PTSD but I majored in Russian and couldn't eat or sleep for three days after I read book I of the Gulag Archipelago. If I HAD PTSD...what would a trigger warning have done? It's not like there's an alternate reading you can do if you're studying 20th century Soviet history, that lets you avoid hearing about the sick shit they did to political prisoners. I just don't get what trigger warnings are supposed to do in the classroom. If you're so emotionally fragile that you can't read a book or participate in a seminar or listen to a lecture, you need treatment. You can't handle college, which is already a pretty "safe space" compared to the real world.

+1

There is no cure for PTSD, only management of symptoms. It's courteous to forewarn people if class discussion will center around potentially traumatic material (child molestation, warfare, rape, human trafficking etc). With literature a victim has the option of putting the book down - if suddenly confronted with the topic being discussed, they can be retraumatized, shocked etc and feel uncomfortable just walking out.

I don't think this is the PC police run amok, I think it has to do with common courtesy springing from a broader knowledge of trauma in the world.

But isn't UofC saying they aren't going to provide blanket trigger warnings when students should reasonably expect that they will be exposed to potentially disturbing material as part of a liberal arts education? How do you take a history class without discussing warfare? How do you study art history without looking at pictures of rape? If you are an elite college, its not unreasonable to say to students--we're preparing you to be adults, and that means being capable of owning your shit, and if you have stuff to deal with here is an environment where you will learn how to do that and we're telling you now, you better be able to handle it. That's the warning.

Having PTSD does not mean you cannot "handle your own shit." Your post is a great example of how little the general public knows about trauma.

I meant "handle it" like "if you recognize that you are a victim of trauma, get appropriate help instead of expecting class-specific 'trigger warnings'." Which is a separate issue from expecting students, professors, and administrators to not actively go around being assholes even while discussing or debating various topics--that is something we should all be able to reasonably count on as members of a decent society.