Safe Space Research Paper

As American universities and colleges grow their demographics, diversity and ideas there is a continued and an accelerated debate regarding freedom of speech within these higher education institutions. College campuses are struggling to simultaneously provide a learning environment that is inclusive to traditionally unrepresented students while also providing an environment that allows for ideas to be challenged and debated no matter how offensive or controversial.

After my first semester in college, I was left with a new and exciting learning experience. I engaged in discussions on controversial topics and was exposed to various reading and media material which opened me up to new perspectives. In classrooms, questions about politics, abuse, drugs, death, relationships, religion, and ethics were discussed without restrictions. I enjoyed this learning experience on the most part due to the professors announcing the topics to be discussed the first day of classes. Being fresh out of high school, such a practice relieved the transition into a new academic environment. However, I cannot solely rely on my personal experience when deciding on where to stand regarding the controversy that has students, parents, educators, and administrators in disagreement. In my research I plan to explore the controversy over the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces by analyzing both sides of the debate. My goal is to come to a conclusion concerning the proper use of trigger warnings and safe spaces; specifically, when should trigger warnings be given, where is the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces appropriate, and most importantly, what subjects should students be warned or protected from. I

With a wide variety of people on colleges campuses, it is almost impossible to please everybody; whether it comes to class times, bus schedules, or grading rules, somebody is upset. As well as these smaller issues, more controversial arguments come into play. One of these arguments is against free speech zones on college campuses. These zones restrict speech to a specific area on campus, however, still allowing any type of group to express their beliefs to anybody passing. Some claim these zones as unconstitutional because it restricts a student’s right to free speech. However, others view the zones as helpful in controlling protests and current tensions on campus. Open speech across campus is incredibly difficult to monitor because of the enormous size of current day campuses and the immense amount of different views. In the past, there have been situations relating to violent protesting and negative speech across campuses. Because of this, campuses have begun enforcing free speech zones in which students and faculty may verbally express their beliefs.

In the article “Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces and Free Speech, too” published in the New York Times by Sophie Downes, Downes argues in response to a letter sent out by the dean of the University of Chicago. The letter states that safe spaces and trigger warnings were an issue deterring students from having free speech and therefore would not be supported on the Chicago campus anymore. Downes argues that the letter was just a poor attempt to advert attention away from the real issues on the campus—ones that the dean will not meet with student council about and will not talk about at all. Sophie Downes argues that safe spaces and trigger warnings actually encourage free space and enhance support and community—two values that the dean said were deterred by the existence of them.

“Free Inquiry? Not on Campus” by John Leo is an important essay that shows exactly how important it is to protect people's political views and opinions. In Leo's essay, he elaborates how times have changed and how we live in more of a liberal left-wing society and because of this everyone has to be more politically correct. Leo talks about the social change universities and colleges on how they used to promote free speech, but now are more like the speech police telling us what's opinions you should have on any given subject and any other opinion is considered wrong. Leo gives an example of this and writes “in October 2007, for instance, a student mob stormed a Columbia University stage, shutting down speeches by two members of the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration group.The students shouted they have no right to

“A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense” (Lukianoff and Haidt 44). Colleges are sheltering their students from words and ideas that students do not like or are found to be offensive. Affecting their education and cognitive skills, scientists are warning colleges to refrain from coddling the students and allowing other viewpoints to be spoken. People are speaking their minds, saying their own views; however, some people are over sensitive and take these viewpoints offensively. In the article “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt successfully argues using rhetorical questions, specific examples, and affective visuals that protecting college students from words and ideas deteriorates their education and mental health.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” Indeed, free speech is a large block upon which this nation was first constructed, and remains a hard staple of America today; and in few places is that freedom more often utilized than on a college campus. However, there are limitations to our constitutional liberties on campus and they, most frequently, manifest themselves in the form of free speech zones, hate speech and poor university policy. Most school codes are designed to protect students, protect educators and to promote a stable, non-disruptive and non-threatening learning environment. However, students’ verbal freedom

Sally attended Joliet Junior College and took a general psychology class. One day when she attended her psychology class, her professor warned students of a topic that there were going to talk about in class which was how abuse can damage an individual’s mental state. Sally has been through abuse in her past and is uncomfortable with that certain topic, so she left class because she was alerted to the topic. Ultimately, she didn’t want to revisit her past of abuse. This is considered a trigger warning, in which professors give a warning about topics that they will discuss that can lead to some sort of discomfort for students. Trigger warnings are used on campuses that are considered a safe space. The term safe space is defined as an environment where students can feel like themselves and are not exposed to any harm physically or mentally (Google). Various of colleges/universities have safe spaces so that their students don’t have to go through discrimination of sorts or any harm. Safe spaces are good for students, but there are negative outcomes from it, such as it doesn’t let individuals who suffer and have trauma cope with what happened to them. Even though are negative outcomes from safe spaces, there are positive results that impact Millennials such as a decrease in anxiety and prevention of hate speech.

Conversations in the media and on college campuses regarding trigger warnings, safe spaces, and microaggressions have been impassioned, to say the least. Many have found such requests to be reasonable, because students, in essence, are seeking a respectful atmosphere in which vulnerabilities are respected and insults are not tolerated. Critics have argued that designating some spaces as “safe” implies that others are “unsafe,” and it follows, then, that these “unsafe” spaces should be made “safer.” To what end? Even those who express support wonder: where to draw the line? What topics warrant trigger warnings? Who decides what constitutes a microaggression? That certain subjects demand delicate treatment in the classroom is hardly

Does safe spaces at universities make for a better experience for minorities like blacks, LGBTQ, or anyone that’s not heterosexual white males. Safe spaces are places where anyone can relax and freely express themselves without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe. University of Chicago in the class 2020 received a letter explicitly stating that they support academic freedom which in terms that they do not support “trigger warnings,” and even went as far to say that they don't condone the creation of “intellectual safe spaces.” In response to this letter sent out to the class of 2020 regarding safe spaces Cameron Okeke wrote the article “I’m a black UChicago graduate. Safe spaces got me through college,” arguing that

People have to think twice before saying anything for fear that they are faced with charges of aggression or insensitivity. While the press looks at this as a rebirth of political correctness which sought to restrict hate speech amongst the marginalized groups to encourage inclusivity, others argue it’s more concerned with emotional well-being of the students and that it seeks to protect students from mental harm that can be caused by offensive words, ideas or actions. All in the purpose of making campuses a safe place for students.

With the generations changing, people are becoming more cautious about what they do or say or even let their children go out and do sensitivity is a growing at an alarming rate with the demand for “safe spaces” at college campuses across the United States, with a high rise of students demanding certain subjects from schools to be removed from institutes. Students are trying to get rid of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause them to feel uncomfortable and offended. Students are attempting to get rid of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause them to feel uncomfortable and offended.

From reading the title of the article, The Coddling of the American Mind, the reader knows it will be about how we, as a society, have become more overprotective of the human mind. If this article is like the ‘safe space’ article, I would expect it to be about how colleges are creating a place where students are not exposed to certain situations for fear they might offend someone. When college students are not intellectually challenged to voice their opinion about something that upsets them, I think it is counterproductive. The students will not internalize learned behaviors required for handling the real world. I think we will see issues in this article where society will illustrate the adage: ‘make mountains out of molehills.’

Safety is a tremendous issue on college campuses, and additional procedures need to be taken to prevent crimes from happening. When walking onto a college campus as a young adult, people get a rush of the unknown. The unknown could be going to college parties and late night study groups. College should be like any high school or elementary school and have better security measures to protect their students. The reasons we need these extra steps are to prevent violence, give students a sense of security, and monitor visitors on campus.

In a recent poll a whopping 36 percent of students felt that safe spaces were necessary on college campuses according to LendEDU, a student loan organization. Safes spaces provide an outlet for many who may take offense to material that negatively impacts a student’s emotions. Some students who have had traumas in their life take security in safe spaces due to the guarantee of not being in harm’s way of the lessons they may find offensive. In a world that is not censored from sensitive material in every location it is apprehensive to put trust into a specific location for security. Although many would agree safe spaces provide an outlet of security for those who have experienced traumas in their life, an alternative compromise should be in place to allow students to explore the world from different perspectives, learn to handle the tribulation of opposition, and to prepare students to overcome adversity outside of the classroom. Safe spaces on college campuses are defined as a place or environment in which a person or category of people can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm therefor, it is wise to find comfort in the ideological sense of security a student would likely find in a safe space.