University of Chicago strikes back against political correctness

[britrawick]

A letter to incoming University of Chicago freshmen professed no support for “trigger warnings” or “safe spaces” https://t.co/d2fpqCZ6ZQ
- The New York Times (@nytimes) August 27, 2016
The anodyne welcome letter to incoming freshmen is a college staple, but this week the University of Chicago took a different approach: It sent new students a blunt

Comments

[eveofrevolution]

[ladypolitik]

OP, when viewing the post on the ontd_p page, the words are cut off on the right-hand side.

Seconded. Super odd

[eveofrevolution]

[britrawick]

working on it!!

[screamingintune]

we discussed this when I took my teaching seminar in sociology. I think safe spaces are good, clubs and groups for minorities to connect and feel welcomed, but there are some subjects (sociology being one of them) that you could not possibly teach using trigger warnings, because EVERYTHING is potentially triggering.

[meadowphoenix]

As someone who took a lot sociology classes, and also as someone who had many sociology major friends?

Lmao. This is a shallow understanding of sociology if you believe "we're dealing with rape culture today" or "the material we're dealing with today was first created by researchers with colonialist understandings of race and gender in mind" is too hard.

[screamingintune]

but nearly most of the material we deal with is sensitive. I mean, you do the talk on the first day of class that there is difficult material like is responsible, but when you do a unit on race and a unit on gender and unit on poverty it's ALL going to be difficult.

[meadowphoenix]

And so the difficulty with giving the warnings I gave was?

You're not seriously pretending that general units (like poverty) aren't broken down by specific topics right and specific research and a specific direction right (because it's patently ridiculous to believe that you're going to discuss the full breadth of the topic let alone with any depth)? Where did you go to school where the professor said "poverty" and let students completely self-direct the topic or couldn't predict what was going to get a lot of noise?

Like this is baffling to me. It all being difficult doesn't mean it's hard to say what "all" consists of.

[screw_reality]

So they sent out a letter warning students in advance that the content of their courses - including guest speakers - could potentially provoke a strong emotional response. If only, if only there was a term for that...

[sugartitty]

Lmao

[britrawick]

too many young people who take things they do not agree with as things they never have to hear.

[britrawick]

i've heard them and read plenty of arguments for. Still think a diligent student does research into their course work and finds out if there are any potential pitfall for them. In addition, most lecturers give a general warning for graphic material.

The idea that trigger warnings have to be officially sanctioned as a norn is silly to me. It should be up to the lecturer if they want to do so. Therefore, U of C is doing the right thing in that regard. AKA you might get a trigger warning if the lecturer wants to give it, but do not expect it.

[rainbows_]

This was a good tweet thread concerning this issue (click on first tweet to see full convo):

Hi there! I served 2 yrs as @UChicago student body president and was threatened with expulsion for helping to facilitate a sit-in on campus.
- Tyler Kissinger (@tylerbkissinger) August 25, 2016

I spent four years at the U of C, and consistently it was administrators who were the most coddled and safe-space-seeking people at UChicago
- Tyler Kissinger (@tylerbkissinger) August 25, 2016

Administrators (who for make decisions that have material implications on people's lives) regularly refuse to engage with challenging ideas.
- Tyler Kissinger (@tylerbkissinger) August 25, 2016

So, to get to the point: on so many of these issues, @UChicago is primarily interested in public perception & its bottom line
- Tyler Kissinger (@tylerbkissinger) August 25, 2016

Decision makers (Pres/Provost/BoT) rarely if ever directly interact with students & are kept insulated from any sort of "critical discourse"
- Tyler Kissinger (@tylerbkissinger) August 25,

[britrawick]

I have an issue with admins as well. They have their own reasons for bending over and i also feel like a lot of colleges are ideologically one sided, read an article on it ages ago i can't find.

I agree that there is an element of publicity as the article states as well.

All that being said, i feel like more universities need to take this stance with students There is definitely a move to shut down people who aren't in agreement with the the majority and that is what needs to be addressed.