Over at the Washington Post, Brown University President Christina Paxson argues that safe spaces are about free expression, not its exclusion.
She’s not entirely wrong, and as she points out, there have essentially become two types of safe spaces on college campuses in recent years. One is perfectly acceptable — groups of students with similar interests or backgrounds joining together to share experiences and ideas. These are otherwise known as friend groups.
The other is clearly designed to excude, and that’s the kind that turns adult students into toddlers. Paxson noted one such instance of this, and tried to make it seem like it doesn’t happen often. The incident Paxson described occurred at Brown University several years ago, and included a room with “cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.”
The reason such a room was necessary for these students was because Wendy McElroy was speaking during a debate and suggesting that the “rape culture” narrative permeating colleges and universities across the country is not accurate. Students so wrapped up in this narrative regressed to children and needed a room similar to what would be found at a preschool.
Paxson described this room “as a resource to support survivors of sexual assault.” Even in that context, it was crummy. Does this mean Brown thinks survivors of sexual assault are no longer adults? That once a sexual assault has occurred, a victim can never — or should never — move on with their life?
There is nothing wrong with groups of like-minded people or people with similar backgrounds or experiences getting together. The problem comes when schools and professors set up these safe spaces as a way to exclude wrongthink — especially because that usually means conservative ideas.
Students need to have their ideas and worldviews challenged. Sometimes it’s because they may be wrong in their thinking, but that’s not the only reason — it’s still necessary to be challenged in order to understand why they believe what they do.
Part of the university experience is to have one’s views refined through meaningful engagement. People don’t like being told what to think, but if they hear an idea that makes them think and come to a new conclusion on their own, they may come around.
Many colleges no longer encourage this. Students who are demanding safe spaces are avoiding it, openly telling students who don’t look like them or don’t love like they do that their opinion (and, in some cases, even their willingness to give support) is less valid and their thoughts and ideas are harmful. They are cheering on the closing of young minds along ideological and even racial lines, and that’s not good.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
