tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post3853947518962724793..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: The University of Chicago warns incoming freshmen that they should expect no safe spacesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-65359248123917710702016-09-02T17:12:04.224-04:002016-09-02T17:12:04.224-04:00There does seem to be a good deal of confusion (in...There does seem to be a good deal of confusion (in the original letter, and in Gannon's piece) between what strike me as two fairly different (though admittedly potentially connected) issues: invitation and treatment of outside speakers, and introducing difficult topics into classroom readings and discussions. <br /><br />For outside speakers, I'm a pretty strong advocate of the ideas Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-81883928533584279262016-09-02T11:17:10.735-04:002016-09-02T11:17:10.735-04:00This. All of this. Everything you said. Thank y...This. All of this. Everything you said. Thank you.Great Lakes Gretahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08101613060478193833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-5201053711091121822016-09-02T01:16:47.583-04:002016-09-02T01:16:47.583-04:00Continuing, because I ran just a bit over the maxi...Continuing, because I ran just a bit over the maximum character count:<br /><br />All the professors that defend trigger warnings assume that the use will be ideal, merely to warn students of what's coming and never to identify works to be censored. But that's not always how it works in practice. If you at once legitimize the idea that keeping students from feeling "hurt" at anyNullifidianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15207390447020990907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-16210177790847479082016-09-02T01:16:00.230-04:002016-09-02T01:16:00.230-04:00I read the Tattooed Professor's article elsewh...I read the Tattooed Professor's article elsewhere, and found it absolutely appalling. He doesn't demonstrate the value of "protesting invited speakers" so much as assume it. He is absolutely wrong that having a speaker on campus should be construed as an endorsement of everything the speaker has ever written. If that were the case, then the university's invitations would Nullifidianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15207390447020990907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-60490218804159828862016-09-02T00:33:37.592-04:002016-09-02T00:33:37.592-04:00... and as someone else pointed out, that dean no ...<i>... and as someone else pointed out, that dean no doubt drafted that letter from his computer at his desk in his office which has a door on it, which sounds an awful lot to me like a safe space for him to do his deaning in.</i><br /><br />Presumably he was relatively free from physical harm at that moment, but so what? Even the most dogged opponents of so-called "safe spaces" aren&#Nullifidianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15207390447020990907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-14986638541188573462016-08-30T09:22:36.247-04:002016-08-30T09:22:36.247-04:00Greta, thanks. It's helpful to hear your persp...Greta, thanks. It's helpful to hear your perspective, and I wish your colleagues took your experience more seriously. I have to say, I doubt very much that many of the "excellent sheep" at a place like U of C are in the habit of protesting readings they disagree with--at least to prof's faces. Grousing to friends about why they have to take a class on diverse perspectives, yup, Curly Charlannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-14635131417737306572016-08-29T11:59:11.612-04:002016-08-29T11:59:11.612-04:00Interesting. Thanks for the context.Interesting. Thanks for the context.Ed Yutanenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-31182952794753837562016-08-29T08:13:14.226-04:002016-08-29T08:13:14.226-04:00Ed, I'm not sure the generation/age aspect can...Ed, I'm not sure the generation/age aspect can be applied to where I teach. At LD3C, I rarely have a classroom full to the brim of millennials, and I often have Baby Boomer and Gen-X students who attempt to change the classroom content and assignments to suit their own ideological persuasions. I've had students well into their forties and fifties complain to my chair when I wouldn'tGreat Lakes Gretahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08101613060478193833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-75070559088641972872016-08-28T23:13:02.840-04:002016-08-28T23:13:02.840-04:00Exactly. (I wanted to say "ganz genau" b...Exactly. (I wanted to say "ganz genau" because the German phrase is better, but I am guessing your 18 year-old self would have found this pretentious.) ;-)Ed Yutanenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2639781298151161692016-08-28T20:49:02.885-04:002016-08-28T20:49:02.885-04:00I don't use trigger warnings, but something ab...I don't use trigger warnings, but something about this letter doesn't sit right with me -- I think it's <i>because</i> my eighteen-year-old self would have unreservedly applauded it, and because I recognize now that my eighteen-year-old self was intellectually arrogant, unreasonably contemptuous of people I perceived as overly sensitive, and not very good at compassion. In other Fretful Porpentinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165078003123517013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-4468082347500017462016-08-28T19:48:51.771-04:002016-08-28T19:48:51.771-04:00I've heard this elsewhere (and maybe even here...I've heard this elsewhere (and maybe even here during previous discussions about trigger warnings) and would myself take this approach to trigger warnings:<br />TRIGGER WARNING: the content of this entire course.Prof Poopieheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997969128824319914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-18573980932633919942016-08-28T18:59:37.149-04:002016-08-28T18:59:37.149-04:00Greta, that is what makes this the perfect wedge i...Greta, that is what makes this the perfect wedge issue. I also react viscerally to and seethe about stories about precious, over-protected snowflake students--no matter what their political/ideological persuasion--who simply cannot bear to hear perspectives they disagree with. And I am sure there are real issues here and dangers we need to guard against. But how much of this, the new hysteria, isEd Yutanenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-50910329063731812472016-08-28T17:49:44.221-04:002016-08-28T17:49:44.221-04:00While I see the validity of everything you're ...While I see the validity of everything you're saying here, I do not see anything in the letter that forbids trigger warnings. I am sure that professors are not forbidden from contextualizing material they present, including warning students that may be distressed by what they view, hear, or read in a particular class.<br /><br />I find it interesting that I read the letter as a positive stepGreat Lakes Gretahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08101613060478193833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-241868705101425772016-08-28T10:54:22.903-04:002016-08-28T10:54:22.903-04:00Thanks for the links. These pieces are both very g...Thanks for the links. These pieces are both very good and easily digestible. One threat s/he forgot in the second piece: the strategic whipping up of hysteria on trigger warnings and safe spaces (etc.) to further right-wing and neo-liberal projects related to higher ed. Ed Yutanenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-56297335286583020442016-08-27T19:55:41.430-04:002016-08-27T19:55:41.430-04:00Thanks, Cassandra. I wouldn't have started tha...Thanks, Cassandra. I wouldn't have started that silly comment if I'd known how bumpy this little lake was. With some friends on some splendid waterfront although I'm already in school. Unexpected trip for a surprise wedding!College Miseryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01371354682300032653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-75882321452005426562016-08-27T19:53:17.137-04:002016-08-27T19:53:17.137-04:00Hi everyone! I'm on dry land and here's a ...Hi everyone! I'm on dry land and <a href="http://flavorwire.com/587853/blanket-bans-on-trigger-warnings-curtail-freedom-of-expression-too" rel="nofollow">here's a link that three readers have sent in concerning the trigger / safe space letter Chicago sent out</a>.College Miseryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01371354682300032653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-22500857346803745292016-08-27T19:30:01.804-04:002016-08-27T19:30:01.804-04:00Sounds like a cool place to be; enjoy! (and thanks...Sounds like a cool place to be; enjoy! (and thanks for keeping up with CM even on vacation, or faculty retreat, or whatever it is). Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-56114040911431802502016-08-27T17:33:42.544-04:002016-08-27T17:33:42.544-04:00... and as someone else pointed out, that dean no ...... and as someone else pointed out, that dean no doubt drafted that letter from his computer at his desk in his office which has a door on it, which sounds an awful lot to me like a safe space for him to do his deaning in. Guy's an idiot, IMO, who doesn't really understand freedom of expression. He wants to use those words to mean that the university is in charge of what everyone thinks.Dr. Pablitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12044041095776177631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-57834467714199671212016-08-27T16:55:16.979-04:002016-08-27T16:55:16.979-04:00I am actually on a boat and canyon negotiate the b...I am actually on a boat and canyon negotiate the buttons of my phone but 2 people gave send this link and are alarmed I don't gave it up yet<br />http://flavorwire.com/587853/blanket-bans-on-trigger-warnings-curtail-freedom-of-expression-tooCollege Miseryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01371354682300032653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-54926501934385794092016-08-27T16:11:22.526-04:002016-08-27T16:11:22.526-04:00I think it's great, but then the U. of C. has ...I think it's great, but then the U. of C. has a long history of similar courage: during student protests of the Vietnam war they told the students to stop disrupting the operation of the university and go back to class or be expelled, and that was that. I am deeply ashamed that my alma mater, Northwestern, has chosen to collapse like a house of cards on this issue, but then the U. of C. has Froderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-85751788585631786412016-08-27T15:33:07.833-04:002016-08-27T15:33:07.833-04:00tl;dr: if the Dean genuinely thought academic free...tl;dr: if the Dean genuinely thought academic freedom was at risk, he should have asked the faculty to help him figure out what to do about the problem (because, by bypassing the faculty and issuing the letter on his own, he actually endangered another aspect of academic freedom. As noted above, this stuff is actually complicated.)<br /><br />(or what Curly said) Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-57988057978147866242016-08-27T15:32:18.030-04:002016-08-27T15:32:18.030-04:00Taking the easy way out (because I'm still try...Taking the easy way out (because I'm still trying to get my sh*t, or at least the most vital parts of it, together for the beginning of classes): <br /><br />The Good Enough Professor (who self-identifies as a Chicago alum) has two good, thoughtful blog posts on this subject: <a href="http://goodenoughprofessor.blogspot.com/2016/08/preserving-intellectual-safe-spaces-for.html" rel="nofollow">Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-86858592426688867252016-08-27T01:13:32.037-04:002016-08-27T01:13:32.037-04:00Academic freedom traditionally governs in-classroo...Academic freedom traditionally governs in-classroom practice, so forbidding trigger warnings violates it. From what I've read, there's no university that requires them. <br /><br />I find the anti-trigger warning backlash to be of a piece with the view that focusing attention on how people would like to be treated-aka political correctness-is censorship. Both views are specious.Curly Charlannoreply@blogger.com