Reply to American University student government demands 'trigger warnings' be added to every class syllabus

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a college professor and this would be really tough to adhere to.

I have a few classes that are almost entirely student-directed projects (for which I direct them through their work/methodology/concept/research) - if one of them wants to focus on abortion as opposed to something more vanilla, then they can damn well do that. So what does the trigger warning read: "There might be some things addressed here that are upsetting to some of you?" That's life. That's college. That's what you signed up for. [b]I'm willing to mediate any inappropriate provocations or conduct[/b][i], but this is just silly.[/quote]There is no way I would sit in your class or anybody else's and be called the N-word.  I wouldn't tolerate it.  It's not up for discussion.  It's not what I signed up for.  It's not what I pay for. There is no mediation nor am I leaving the room.

And as far as your opinion that "they can damn well do that", I don't think so, not to my face for the gratification of someone's definition of free speech.  I don’t need a safe space, and I'm not putting up with nonsense either.

[/quote]

I think you may have not read my post thoroughly. Because I agree with you, as most sane people would, and as you will see when you re-read the bold text. [/quote]There is a difference between "mediate" and "cease and desist."[/quote]

You can cease and desist an individual's offensive conduct without ceasing an entire class dialogue. That is called mediating. [/quote]I'm sure the poster wouldn't want to be a part of that discussion whether it's mediated or not.  Why would anyone want to be a part of a hostile environment?  Simply leave.  Nothing to do with safe space, just not wanting to be insulted.  Sounds sane to me.[/quote]

That's a real thing, and I respect it. Some people - students and older adults - just don't want to take part in conversations about certain subjects. If a student came to me and said "Hey, it is upsetting me to talk about Larla's project about abortion/drugs/violence/sustainable farming what can we do about it?" I would listen to that student, and offer to put her in discussion groups and critiques that Larla is not part of. I'd encourage her to remove herself from class if she needs to - I'll get it, because she told me she might need to. I'm not an ass, but I can't go around teaching a course that does a deep-dive into critical thinking while also saying "aaaaand we can't talk about tough stuff." That there may be tough stuff seems implicit in the overall experience of higher education, notwithstanding Liberty University. [/quote]

College student's perspective here, skip my post with my apologies if it's not welcome:

Trigger warnings don't say you can't talk about things though, do they? Isn't it literally just saying to include a note on the syllabus or send an email or something once you know the potentially upsetting topics that will be presented? Then you can go right ahead and talk about whatever it is, as long as everyone knows when they come into class that that's what will be happening that day so they can do (or have done in advance) whatever they need to do in order to be prepared to be involved in the topic.

As a survivor of violent sexual assault that involved several other additional factors that would also fairly commonly get trigger warnings if trigger warnings are being used, I know I personally would really appreciate a bit of warning like that, and it would help my performance in class to have such a warning if applicable. I'm not going to fall apart during a class presentation about sexual assault, violent crime, abuse, drugs, or abortions (because if worst comes to worst and I know I'm about to have a flashback or trauma response, I'll leave class rather than let anyone notice or be disturbing anyone)... but if it's sprung on me completely unexpectedly I will definitely have a harder time dealing with the emotional aftermath than I would have if I'd known the class session before the presentation and could have prepared myself in advance to be confronted with all of that again. That's likely as simple as calling my mom or stepmom or a friend and asking if they can provide a little extra emotional support that night or a check-in right after class or something. I wouldn't make it the professor's job to babysit me or their business to handle my issues, but I would definitely appreciate the compassionate forethought shown by any professor who did give me that warning so I could make arrangements in advance to handle myself rather than scrambling to do so after the fact.[/quote]

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