University of Chicago Tells Incoming Students: Don't Expect Safe Spaces or Trigger Warnings

[cab67]

137. "Trigger warnings" as a policy really aren't workable.

I say this as someone who's taught college classes for 20+ years.

Where do we draw the line on what might require a trigger warning? Point of example - I teach courses on vertebrate evolution. I occasionally show pictures of animals many people fear - snakes, rats, bats, and so on. You name the animal, and there's a phobia for it. There are people phobic of cats, dogs, birds, and anything else - and that's just with vertebrates. I would never equate snake phobia with the PTSD arising from sexual assault, but a lot of people are snake phobic, and it can be debilitating. A colleague of mine once brought a live snake to the classroom, prompting a student to break his leg tripping over furniture on his way out the door. As a result, I don't bring live snakes to my larger classes anymore.

Should I issue a trigger warning every time I put up a picture of a snake? Or before showing an automobile, given that someone might have been badly injured or lost a loved one in a car accident? Or a hospital room, given that someone might have just seen a close relative die in the hospital? All kinds of things can be triggering for all kinds of people.

I'm not opposed to trigger warnings in all cases. I generally give a heads-up before showing pictures of predators actively killing prey, for example - they can be graphic. But as a mandated policy, it raises a lot of concerns for me.

Another solution might be to help students who might be prone to a trigger response to tailor their curricula to minimize the chances of encountering triggers in the first place. If we know sexual assault might come up regularly in a class - one discussing ancient Greek drama or the sociology of misogyny, for example - it might be best to have students still working through the psychological damage of events in their lives to avoid them.