This past September, President Obama called today's college students "coddled." He believes that today's college students are too sensitive to hear the other side of an argument. He believes that college students silence others by refusing to hear opposing views or opinions. President Obama is right.

I'll give you an example from my school, Franklin and Marshall. This semester, there has been a Trump banner hanging from the windows of a dorm room. This single banner caused an uprise on campus. Nearly all student organizations discussed how they felt about this banner. Students felt this banner was offensive. They argued that the school should not condone this Donald Trump banner because the presence of that banner is offensive to many students on campus. Students are offended by what Trump says, and therefore do not want his banner hanging from a dorm window. One student even went so far as to find a ladder, climb up the side of the building, and attempt to remove this banner. Unfortunately for this student, the ladder was not tall enough.

In this example, I emphasize feelings. I am not picking a side in this controversy. I am merely presenting facts. One fact is that Donald Trump could be our next president. Is it fair to ask students to remove a banner in support of a president? Not unless it violates school policy. At F&M, students may not hang clothes or flags from their dorm windows. There is no policy banning political banners. Thus, is it school policy to remove a political banner because the majority of campus does not like that candidate? The answer is no. If the banner were to be removed, the school would have to make a new housing policy that no political banners can be hung from windows. It has to be even across all fields.

However, this is what President Obama is speaking to. We are today's college students. Are we really supporting freedom of speech by telling others that we are offended or uncomfortable with their opinions? We need to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And while that may sound like a cliché, it's true.

We have had a lot of discussion about diversity on our campus. This is true across the country. Diversity on college campuses is a hot topic. However, who attends these discussions? Who goes to these protests? It's the students who are speaking their mind. They don't want people to hide in their rooms because they can't handle conflict. They want you to come out and say why you agree with them or why you don't. And if you don't agree with them, they will not hate you. They will argue with you. But is arguing necessarily a bad thing? If you truly listen, you can learn. And while you may not agree at the end of the "argument," you might come away with a new perspective. In this world, there is no right or wrong when it comes to opinions. This is why the concept of agreeing to disagree exists in the first place!

I'm not saying that anything is fair game. There is a line, but right now there are too many forbidden things behind that line. It is one thing if I go around saying I hate Trump, or I hate Bernie, but it is another if I say that I hate all black people or I hate all Mexicans. There is a difference. Disliking a person, or a concept, is fair. We can have a conversation about that. We can say, "I hear you, but I disagree and this is why." Speaking our mind is not about being afraid of offending someone. Speaking our mind is about expressing ourselves.

If you shy away from difficult conversations, I urge you to come out of your shell. Don't let the fear of being uncomfortable prevent you from learning. College campuses promote social learning and are not meant to coddle us. We need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. We need to have open dialogues in a civil manner. We should not be afraid to express our views when we are in the minority. Ideas do not need to be popular to be discussed in college. We should want to discuss all kinds of ideas, even ones we don't understand because we go to college to learn. And what better way to learn, than to talk about ideas?