With UChicago's announcement that they will not support trigger warnings in their classrooms, talk of safe spaces and trigger warnings alike has been filling the media. From teachers to students, administrators to blog posters, everyone seems to have something to say about them.
I do too, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Today, I want to talk about safe spaces, another thing that UChicago said that they don’t support.
The common usage of the phrase “safe space” denotes an area (like a classroom, office building, or dormitory) where the people inside can be assured that they don’t have to worry about a hostile environment. These spaces are important for people that are in minority groups so that they can talk about their experiences of oppression and marginalization without having their words trivialized. Safe spaces are also an important resource for people that have experienced harmful events in their life, like sexual assault survivors.
The existence of safe spaces on college campuses ensures that students always have somewhere to go where they feel comfortable and safe. For example, I recently attended the first meeting of Drake University’s Rainbow Union. As a queer, non-binary person, sometimes it’s hard for me to know if I’m in a place where I’ll be safe sharing my thoughts and experiences. Even in the classroom, where I know that I’m unlikely to face verbal or physical harassment, I still feel somewhat uncomfortable talking about being queer, simply because I never know how people will react. At Rainbow Union, surrounded by LGBTQ+ people, I knew that I could talk about myself in an unfiltered way. Likewise, I know that in my FYS, a place where we deal with some heavy topics, I know that everyone there respects everybody else’s opinions, and nobody is going to be made to feel unsafe or unwelcome.
UChicago’s concern with safe spaces is that they provide a place for students to step away from topics that make them uncomfortable, and allow them to skip out on valuable learning experiences. It seems like UChicago doesn’t really get the point of safe spaces—their purpose isn’t to shield students from opinions that they don’t agree with, it’s to let students know that they’re safe. In Rainbow Union, we might talk about transphobia or homophobia, and that’s something that a lot of—or most of—the member's experience. Being in a safe space means that even if we might be uncomfortable, we’re still safe. We can still receive support and comfort. Most importantly, the safe space means that all of our differing experiences are respected, and nobody feels left out.
So let’s bring back safe spaces. Let’s create more of them. Let’s let everyone know, that no matter who they are or what they’ve experienced, they deserve a right to feel at home.
