Famous—or notorious—overnight, the recent letter to University of Chicago students from the dean of students letting them know “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” had no place on campus set off the best kind of debate. Neither side’s completely right or completely wrong and both value a good education. Where they disagree is primarily in their perspectives—always a good thing to compare.
Back in the day at the University of Missouri (which, I concede, I easily sentimentalize), college itself was thought of as a safe space, a place where it was safe to be an atheist or a Trotskyite or an unwashed bum. Or gay, as several residents of my dorm unabashedly were. Or any of the dozens of other things you couldn’t possibly be in high school or at home. We went off to college to confront and affront and grow up. How safe do people feel who must constantly monitor what they say lest the next words out of their mouths be the wrong words?
