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]

And if I were the professor, I would tell Larla that she is 18 years old now (at least) and it's time to grow up a little. [/quote]

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