Let’s talk about Safe Spaces on Campus!
The past week has been a particularly depressing week. I mean this regarding ‘safe spaces’ and ‘free speech.’
My school prides itself in being an institution that offers a safe space for people from all backgrounds.
According to the Mariam Webster dictionary, a safe space is a place (as on a college campus) intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations.
A particular class opened a nasty can of worms when violent opinions, particularly against members of the LGBTQIA+ community, were given audience. We were instructed to challenge ideas and not the people behind the ideas. (As if it is not the holders of ideas who when given the opportunity, implement the said views). Yet, not much challenging of ideas went on. Most opinions went unchecked, leading to a trail of hurt and angry people who sometimes had to walk out of the said sessions as a form of self-care.
This conversation had me thinking. Why does a school brand itself as being a ‘safe space’ yet it toes around conversations on the existence of certain groups of people? Why aren’t marginalized groups given audience on campus? Why aren’t there trigger warnings before holding certain conversations in class? (Surely people should be given a chance to prepare themselves or opt out of sessions that will make them feel like their existence is threatened.) What action is taken against potentially threatening ideas and conversations voiced within the four walls of class? And most importantly, where should the line between free speech and ‘personally I believe that (insert group of choice here) should be killed/harmed’ be drawn?
“We provide trigger warnings because they give survivors of various stripes the option to assess whether they’re in a state of mind to deal with triggering material before they stumble across it,” Melissa McEwan (2010)
I believe in the need for safe spaces on campus. I do not agree with the idea that people are getting overly-sensitive. No. People are just getting confident enough to speak out and challenge ideas that threaten their existence and oppress them.
I think that this is especially necessary as we are in an African society; which has and continues to nourish toxic mentalities and ideologies that need to be challenged. I, however, feel like there is a need to define exactly what you are offering in terms of a safe space. Are you going to let people voice ignorant opinions and write it off when they hide under excuses like ‘it’s my culture’? How are we going to challenge ignorant(subjective) and dangerous opinions? (I would advise that people who violate safe spaces should be made to participate in seminars that could facilitate their unlearning, but that’s just me. :) )
How do we create a space where toxic mentalities can be challenged?
Comment below with your respectful thoughts on this.
