I can still remember the first day that I attended college: Montclair State University located in Montclair, New Jersey. I had just turned 18 three weeks before and had graduated from a very small high school. I remember thinking that there were more people in one place than I had ever seen in my life. They were all bustling along, most of them chatted with other students, hurrying on to their next class or making a sprint to the parking lot. The center of campus revolved around ‘The Quad’ which was made up of a large open space surrounded by four buildings, one of them being the Student Center. The Student Center was a draw for everyone that was going to be on campus for a good amount of time. There you could find food, the campus store, as well as a number of groups and clubs who would always have some activity or event going on, regardless of what day it happened to be. Some of them were interesting, especially when there happened to be a debate between two opposing sides. The interaction between opposing sides that I witnessed were never hateful or angry, they were intellectual, passionate, and respectful. They were a cornerstone of the general college experience. Basically, it was a welcome to the real world where people have disagreements but can still remain respectful of those opposing opinions.

It was September of 2006 when I began college. In ten short years, quite a bit on college campuses seems to have changed. When I attended a public university, things such as ‘safe spaces’ and ‘trigger warnings’ were certainly not words that anyone heard of. You were in college — you were one more graduation date away from being ‘officially in the real world’. Recently, however, it appears that this is no longer the case, and instead of being one step away from being in the real world, college is merely one continuous step toward shutting out any opinions that you may not agree with.

For those of you that do not know, a ‘safe space’ is a physical area on a college campus in which a student can go to ‘heal’ without fear of any outside influences or opinions that may make them feel uncomfortable in any way. Let’s think about this for a moment. A college or university has generally been known as a time in a person’s life where they are ‘finding’ themselves. They are learning what it is going to take to be able get a career and grow personally and educationally. Enter in ‘safe spaces’. Suddenly, a college student now has the ability to remove his or herself from anything that may make them feel the least bit disturbed. In what career situation would any person be able to do that? A boss or co-worker makes a comment that you may not agree with — do you really think that you are going to be able to go to a ‘safe space’ at a place of employment to feel better? Highly doubtful! So why is this suddenly okay in a college setting which is supposed to be helping to teach young adults how to behave in the real world?

‘Trigger warnings’ are also something that appear to be a growing trend. Essentially, trigger warnings are being used by college campuses when a potentially controversial topic is going to be discussed in a class or on campus or when there is going to be a potentially controversial person speaking on campus. On this topic, my opinions are slightly more mixed. In certain instances, I can almost understand the use of trigger warnings. For example, say that the subject of rape is going to be brought up in a class. With rape statistics on the rise, it is highly possible that a student in that class has either experienced rape or been personally affected by rape. Rape is a highly traumatizing experience for any person and that person may not be mentally able to have an open discussion on the topic. In a situation such as this, I can understand a teacher giving his or her students a heads up that this topic is going to be discussed. However, other topics such as differences in political opinions need no warnings. These topics are not going to set a person into flashbacks or potentially cause a breakdown.

If there was a piece of advice that I could give to college students these days, I think it would be that it is time to grow up and face the real world. I am by no means saying that this applies to ALL college students, but it is time to grow some thick skin and realize that not everything you hear around you is going to be something that you agree with. This is what our country is made up of — differing opinions. A person’s home is a safe space- — when did things change so much that this is suddenly not enough and more is needed? While I certainly understand that the world is changing, for the world to change into a place where all opinions are only listened to conditionally is just absurd. No one should be forced to silence opinions, and in turn, no one should be able to hide from them.