On Sunday, Fox News reported about just one of the several recent trends from Claremont McKenna College when it comes to “safe spaces.”
The Student Life, the official campus paper, has decided to dedicate a section of their paper to hearing exclusively from minorities. Fox News spoke to junior at Pomona College, Steven Glick, who is also the publisher of another paper, the Claremont Independent. Before asking Glick his thoughts, the host said the paper’s decision is “essentially creating a barrier, to fight racism, although in some people’s eyes it seems like it’s just creating, a, you know, an us vs. them type of situation.”
Glick started off by mentioning that the student body is “very divided” on what he referred to as a “divisive issue.” He did find the stance the Student Life took to be inappropriate, however:
Close to 300 students who did not agree with some of the tactics that protesters have used have signed onto a letter. Glick also mentioned that the Claremont Independent also was one of the first to speak out against some of the tactics, with many others following in their footsteps.
The Claremont Indpendent had highlighted some of the examples of “safe spaces” at Claremont, in a piece written by Glick titled “Safe Spaces Segregate the Claremont Colleges.” The paper had also written about campus tension in their “Campus News” section, with “CMC Students Feel Marginalized, Demand Resources and Resignations,” written by Hannah Oh, the editor-in-chief.
When Glick was asked if any minorities wrote for his paper, he had an interesting story to share. The associate editor is a Latino who went to one of the safe spaces, not to make any statements, but to be a supportive friend. He was still asked to leave as a result of his conservative opinions and affiliation with the paper.
“So really the safe spaces are very much an ideological shield where students can just claim they feel unsafe because of someone’s presence and have to have them escorted out,” Glick added.
Glick spoke of counter-protests. One such example, which both him and Oh, along with Taylor Schmitt, the managing editor of the Claremont Independent,were responsible for appeared in the Washington Post. The piece, “College is the last place that should be a ‘safe space’: A voice of protest against student protests,” expressed not just disappointment with student protesters and with resignations, but with campus administrators as well.
