Do you feel safe on campus?
We need to have a discussion about free speech, inclusion, and safety at college.
By Dexter Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Is your school a safe place for people like you?
That may be a hard question to answer, especially if you’re a minority. Your life may not be in danger, but there may be signs that your wellbeing is not as important as that of others.
Last week, I posted a question on LATimes.com, asking students about microaggressions — slights that may not even be intentional, but make you feel unwelcome, or unsafe.
I got a lot of different responses.
Here’s one story from a student that was made to feel like she doesn’t belong on campus:
A girl made a comment to me about how “people like me” only get in to [our college] because of the color of our skin and how we take all of the financial aid and she is left paying full tuition. However, what she didn’t know was that I am on academic scholarship and worked very hard throughout high school so that I could receive a scholarship.
Another from a student who is worried about freedom of speech:
I feel as though my and every student’s academic freedom is being threatened. As a white student from the Valley, I represent everything that is wrong with the world; Told to check my privilege, or that my experiences, opinions or positions are only offensive and “hurtful,” but that they have no place in higher education. […] It’s only a matter of time before everyone’s freedom to engage in academic discourse is a thing of the past.
And one from a student that says that microaggressions don’t stop when class is over:
I am a 21-year-old woman of East Asian descent. During my freshman year in college, a young man approached me at a party and asked me if it was true that Asian women had horizontal vaginas. I was so caught off guard and appalled that I walked away without responding.
But everyone’s experience is different.
So, I thought we should have a conversation about your campus climate. What has your experience been?
I want to hear your story.
Post a Response below, and use the SafeOnCampus tag. I’ll use the Recommend function to highlight posts that are especially thoughtful, and may contact individual writers to ask if they’d like their work featured back on latimes.com.
