Trigger Warnings In Higher Education

George Bridges’ argument refutes the AAUP’s claim that trigger warnings can be counterproductive. Bridges expresses that by not providing trigger warning professors do not

Trigger statements are becoming more and more popular in syllabi, especially on college campuses. These provide students, especially those with post-traumatic stress disorder, with a warning about possibly uncomfortable content that could cause a flashback or panic attack. There are several different opinions about trigger warnings. Jenny Jarvie, the author of the article “Trigger Happy,” believes that they have gone too far and are a detriment to society (Jarvie 6). To enhance Jarvie’s point further, in their article “The Coddling of the American Mind” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt explain how trigger warnings cause metal illness on campuses across the country. The opposing view is that they are necessary to have a fulfilling learning

Hanlon’s article focuses on the idea of trigger warning and how they are used as well as viewed on college campuses around college campuses around the United States. Hanlon makes a direct reference to “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt through the article bring out points that he disagrees with. Hanlon believes trigger warnings are not necessary bad when the professor uses them within the right context according to his thesis. He gives examples of when he uses them in his own classroom. In the article Hanlon also breaks down a few sentences from my original article to show how it is framed in a way to match the larger societal voice. The author’s argument as well as the article as a whole has a weak merit.

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.

Trigger warnings are being enforced around America in hopes of improving the way college students learn. Trigger warnings originated on the internet as a way to flag certain material that could be harmful to others. Many professors are now pushing for trigger warnings as a way to warn students that ideas within their material could offend or emotionally harm them. While they are being implemented across the country, their effects on students are proving to be more harmful than helpful because they often hinder students’ education rather than further develop it.

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.

In his book, Unlearning Liberty (2014) Greg Lukianoff, President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) asserts that violations of free speech— whether by students, faculty, or administration—will have devastating effects in greater society. Lukianoff supports his assertion by describing cases he has seen throughout his career at FIRE. From administration punishing students to professors getting fired for clearly protected speech. Lukianoff’s purpose is to point out the misguided lessons about freedom that are being taught on campus and to encourage his audience to stand up for freedom on campus. Lukianoff writes in an earnest tone to an audience who recognizes the importance of freedom in America society.

For example, “censoring this material is a bad idea, and providing context is the best avenue for explaining why” (Hanlon). As you can see, when certain things are not taught in our culture, it becomes a trigger warning and along the line, someone is hurting from it because our culture says “NO”. Furthermore, the purpose of trigger warnings is to have students react to stuff that will make them uncomfortable and this can help us catch problems before they become “catastrophes” (Hanlon). To sum up, our society makes it tough to present trigger warnings, therefore leaving those who are in need of help left

Trigger warnings allow rules and policies to overtake curriculums inside the classroom. Therefore, trigger warnings damage the academic freedom for students that feel that they have been offended on a certain content. Academic freedom is when people articulate

As a class, we mainly fell into the category of those who would not tell a professor if they had any concerns regarding a class. The standard here with the usage of trigger warnings is how do we as a society know what actually will require a trigger warning. If no one has a standard, then the policy would be mocked for being too lackadaisical. I see trigger warnings being necessary in some situations where I would want to know if something graphic is going to be shown to me. We came across two definitions of safe spaces in the class: 1) an actual physical safe space and 2) an ideological safe space. The concern with the physical safe space is that it seems more reductive or childish, which interestingly enough is how the Baby Boomers assess our generation.

Trigger warnings are hurting mental health on campus of universities. There are many things that are mentioned in class that makes students feel uncomfortable or they most likely do not agree with. In my opinion, I think that this is a real problem with colleges these days. Nonetheless, I do not think that some professors intend to offend students when they ask certain questions. For instance, if a professor asks an African American student where they were born or where they are from, then the African American may be offended because that means that the professor was implying that he or she was not an actual American. This is an example of a Microaggression. Microaggressions are defined as small actions or word choices that seem to not intentionally

Academic Freedom was a piece written in the early 1950’s describing the social problems that existed in certain universities across the country. Throughout the country there are mostly two types of colleges that are used to mold students into adults and those are conservative or liberal. Buckley goes on to express his experience as a student attending Yale University while there he notices many things he considers wrong with the institutions. What he found was that instead of promoting students to think on their own and formulate their own preferences; he found the professors and universities were trying to manipulate him to into how he should think about certain topics. Buckley felt like his individuality was being taken from him because instead of giving information and lets him decide what he wanted they were forcefully feeding them their ideology. Their liberal agenda he felt was being forced upon him and he did simply fold but rebutted these

The use of trigger warnings and avoidance of microagressions has already been showcased at many prominent institutions of higher learning. It has been seen not only in the form of students protesting, but in some cases in administrations adopting policies and demanding professors to avoid certain topics for the sake of accommodating the psyche of students who anticipate being offended. Haidt and Lukianoff provide the example of the University of California, where professors were given lists of microaggressions, including statements such as “‘America is the land of opportunity’ and ‘I believe the most qualified person should get the job’” (Haidt/Lukianoff 3). Microaggressions have made the jump from recognizing someone’s ignorance, or even a simple error in word-choice to reporting and reprimanding the “aggressor”. One notable instance of a microaggression reporting system is from Ithaca College. According to Noreyana Fernando in an article for The Ithaca Voice, the college is implementing an online system by which students can report and publish instances by which they feel victimized by a microaggression. In this system, the person responsible for the offense will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and a punishment may be determined by representative students or administrators (Fernando 1). While the fact each case will be handled individually is a good thing, the fact that microaggressions will be publicly reported in the first place and need to be resolved officially is

According to the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure academic freedom states that as long as teachers performing their academic duties adequately they are allowed to full freedom in their research as well as publication of the results. If research is for monetary gain then there should be a prior understanding with the university. The statement of principles also declares that while teachers have freedom discussing their subject in the classroom they should not introduce controversial material that is not related to their subject matter. Religious and or other institutional limitations that restrict academic freedom should be stated at time of hire in writing. The statement of principles also states that when teachers

Take the standpoint of a student, student freedom is an element of Academic Freedom, but it doesn't just express specifically to its freedom in the classroom. It encourages students to discuss, express, and evaluate on an academic basis, not on opinions or conduct in matters unrelated to academic standards. It is questionable whether or not students should act on demands. Leadership matters, they have to face emotionally evocative symbolic and narrative disputes and take on opposing views. Today's student movements is not alleged intolerance or immaturity." Students should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study