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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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]

This makes sense to me. I appreciate your post.[/quote]

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