The American media has been having a hayday with students reactions to "Trump 2016" being written on sidewalks in front of minority housing, students reactions to political statements being made by other students, students saying they are offended by certain language, and students saying they are offended by certain party themes. There is a fine line between feeling offended because you feel as though your safety is being questioned, and feeling offended because another group's views or actions don't align with your own.

As a minority, I have never been "offended" by someone telling me they are supporters of Donald Trump, or because someone has a confederate flag in their dorm.

I have never been offended by seeing white people dress up as black stereotypes for Halloween, because black, Asians, Indians, and Mexican groups do the exact same thing (Remember: playing up stereotypes through parties, conversation or whatever it may be, is not the same as being ignorant and close-minded towards the realities of those stereotypes).

Growing up, I was Pocahontas, Ariel, a cowgirl, a valley girl, and many other things that could arguably have been considered racist or demeaning to Native Americans, actual cowgirls, and people who speak and dress like actual valley girls and more.

So, let me make one thing clear: there is nothing wrong with dressing up as someone of a different race. There is nothing wrong with having a different political belief than someone else. And there is nothing wrong with someone wanting to have the Confederate flag in their room (I specifically say in their room, because in your room is one thing, but one kid, at a high school took it a bit too far). Those things do not threaten the safety of other students. Sure, it may be ignorant in some cases, but that is in no way threatening your safety.

Universities are home to thousands of students of different ethnicities (notice I did not say race), socioeconomic backgrounds, family structures and overall moral values.

There are going to be disagreements.

There are going to be debates.

There is always going to be some tension, but that is more because of how the media and society play a role in shaping people's viewpoints.

Reality is, there are about a million things that are going to offend you in life.

I experience ignorant comments every single day:

-people asking me to touch my hair.
-people asking me why I'm so "white."
-people telling me I'm not black because of the way I dress.
-people telling me that black people need to get over slavery and Jim Crow because it wasn't that bad.

Do I run to my dean and say that I'm offended by these students making comments like this?

Do I make a scene out of it because I see a guy carrying a confederate flag on him every day? (I personally feel like once you get to college, you can do crap like wearing a confederate flag, but in high school...there are too many hormones and things that could go wrong with that).

Do I take a photo of the daily "Trump 2016" written on the pavement in front of basically every building on campus and say that I don't feel safe?

No. I don't do any of those things because my safety is not being threatened.
And frankly neither was most of the students who have brought national attention to their college campuses.

I am sympathetic to your feelings that you should be able to live on a campus, that you pay ridiculous money to attend, and feel safe; however, in what ways is your safety being threatened? (That is a serious question, if you go to a school and feel that your safety is being threatened by certain acts, please comment below and tell me because there are always two sides to any story and I would be very interested in hearing your story).

I understand that Donald Trump has made some...less than lovely comments about various groups that make up America. However, Donald Trump isnottelling people to be racist. He isnot telling people to be sexist. He isnottelling people to be xenophobic. I have watched every Republican debate. I have listened to his interviews with CNN, Fox, MSNBC, I follow the man on Twitter, and I attended his (canceled) rally in Chicago. Although I may not agree with the idea of building a wall, or amping security on Muslim individuals, I do not think Donald Trump is saying these things from a place of hatred; He is saying these things from a place of frustration and although some of his supporters are taking what he says as gold and reasons to shout racial slurs/be openly racist, it does not mean that your safety is being threatened because his name appears on a, or various, sidewalk(s) on your campus.

Not every Trump supporter is racist, sexist, or xenophobic.

Many of the Trump supporters I have met like him because he is an honest man. Yes, he is rough around the edges, but they feel like that's what we need (also if you read Trump's immigration plan on his website, it doesn't say he wants to remove all 11 million immigrants, only the ones who have criminal backgrounds and aren't contributing to help make America great again, plus his views on Muslims isn't towards ALL Muslims, he specifically indicates ISIS during various interviews and on his social media platforms).

So, having "Trump 2016" written on a sidewalk, is not threatening to your safety.

Students with Confederate flags in their rooms doesn't mean that they are racist. I have met quite a few students who recognize what the flag stands for and they don't agree with that aspect of it, but they had family members who did fight in the Confederate war so that is part of their family lineage. And if it's in their room, how is it offensive to you if you're not in their room?

We, as a society, need to stop generalizing. We are grouping entire populations of people together based on a select few individuals. Professors and universities should only be censoring student activity on campus when it is of actual threat to the student body.

Every single citizen of the United States has right to free speech, and for students to say they are offended by someone's free speech and then a university taking away those student's free speech isn't creating a welcoming environment.

You are creating an environment of tension and disbelief.

If you are serious about your education then you want to conversate with those whose opinions and values don't align with yours, because that is how you learn. Silencing supporters of Trump is not making your college life safer, it's just making it so your day to day life is catered to how you want it to be.

Opinions, creativity, and open dialogues are what drive this nation.

In the real world, you are going to hear unflattering things. You are going to experience actual individuals who WILL threaten your safety. College is your time to educate yourself on a variety of topics, religions, cultures and societies.
Take that opportunity, don't try to silence a group of individuals simply because you're "offended."

Learn FROM them.

Learn ABOUT them.

I am all for universities creating safe, learning environments, however, universities are not there to coddle you when you feel offended by someone else's viewpoints, they are there to TEACH you how to respond to someone's rhetoric, with insightful points of your own. Your emotions about a comment, discussion or opposing viewpoint are not evidence of that situation being offensive.

Universities should not be policing speech, nor suspending professors for discussing uncomfortable topics and students taking offense to comments made in order to expand your thinking.

The world is not comfortable!

This world has enough BS to deal with as it is, don't begin silencing voices on campuses of institutions that were put in place to teach us how to overcome and address our differences. In order to understand where another individual is coming from, their voice has to be heard. Without being heard, nothing can change. Without being heard, the opposing sides will never understand one another. College is not the time to start acting like our congresswomen and men; They don't listen to each other. We're young and we still have opportunities to learn how to listen to each other, and learn how to have civilized debates and come to a consensus.

We still have the opportunities to be enlightened, but only if we choose to view them through that lens. We aren't 30, so there is no reason for anyone to be stuck in their ways yet. As Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt say, in their article for the Atlantic, "If students graduate believing that they can learn nothing from people they dislike or from those with whom they disagree, we will have done them a great intellectual disservice."

I'm not advocating for Obama, but I think he did a great job, in 2015, speaking in Iowa to students about this idea of silencing a group simply because their ideas aren't parallel to yours:

"I don't believe that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view. Anybody who comes to speak to you and you disagree with, you should have an argument with them! But you shouldn't silence them by saying you can't come because I'm too sensitive to hear what you have to say. That's not the way we learn either." -Barack Obama, 2015

As the American Association of University Professors’ report states, “The presumption that students need to be protected rather than challenged in a classroom is at once infantilizing and anti-intellectual.”

We need to be open to listening to the other side; silencing them will only hinder your education, not enhance it.