Hmm, it’s tricky to decipher what the author is suggesting here exactly. It’s all pretty oblique. I have a theory.

There’s this well know idea called freedom of association. A college that supports free association would allow individuals to come together in spaces on the campus. Freely associated groups would be able to set rules for interaction. They would not be forced to continue association with any particular person. When assembling in non-common spaces, attendance could be conditioned on following the rules decided by the group. Those rules could certainly include limits to speech.

In other words, freely associated groups should not have to endure badgering by people who disagree with them or who want to disrupt their activities. This is entirely consistent with the principles of liberal education. It’s nothing new.

These groups and gatherings will flourish or fade in proportion to their success in attracting participants. How they set rules and enforce them will be one factor in their success.

Given that the principles of free association are so well known for so long, it seems unlikely that’s what the author is suggesting. If it were, wouldn’t he have said so plainly?

No, I think he wants something more. I guess he’s advocating that campus authorities conceive and sponsor these “safe” gatherings. After all, it’s the administrators and faculty who possess the enlightened and correct views to decide which ideas and ideologies ought to be promoted and which should be prohibited in the various spaces. Individuals acting on their volition, following their own diverse lights, cannot be trusted to create the correct safe spaces.

So it’s not about granting people the freedom to express their ideas among other like-minded people, free from badgering, and to attract others to their community as best they can. No, it’s about creating the means for the enlightened to advance the correct views.

And what about this... Does he intend that these safe spaces extend into classroom and curricular programming?

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he just wants free association. Perhaps he will tell us.