To: MN Daily President, MN Daily Editorials Editor, and MN Daily Editor-in-Chief
MN Daily: Retract Editorial Board piece undermining trigger warnings
Urge the Minnesota Daily to retract its Editorial Board article "Warnings aren’t needed in class."
Why is this important?
Perhaps one of the most troubling things I've seen in my five years in higher ed is the lack of safe spaces, including the classroom. The Minnesota Daily's Editorial Board, so the newspaper itself and not just a writer, has put their stamp of approval on a piece slighting the importance of trigger warnings: http://www.mndaily.com/opinion/editorials/2014/04/20/warnings-aren%E2%80%99t-needed-class
Despite acknowledging "It’s important to note that the resolution is only advisory," regarding proposed policies being put forward by Oberlin College and the University of California-Santa Barbara, the Daily goes on to say that the goals of higher education are undermined by being sensitive to those with post-traumatic stress disorder, nurturing the idea that college is for the elite few and should not be made accessible to the less well off: "This student-driven proposal seeks to shield other students from duress, and though it may be well-intentioned, it has no place in a community of intellectual growth."
The piece goes on to do much more, including undermining the experiences of students without diagnosis, referring to students who suffer from stress disorders as a "small percentage" despite the pervasiveness of sexual assault incidents in universities everywhere, and disturbingly stating "colleges are not safe houses for students."
It is unconscionable that people will have read this and believe it reflects the feelings of the student body, and the University of Minnesota system does not need another reason to turn yet another blind eye to victims and survivors of traumatic events.
Despite acknowledging "It’s important to note that the resolution is only advisory," regarding proposed policies being put forward by Oberlin College and the University of California-Santa Barbara, the Daily goes on to say that the goals of higher education are undermined by being sensitive to those with post-traumatic stress disorder, nurturing the idea that college is for the elite few and should not be made accessible to the less well off: "This student-driven proposal seeks to shield other students from duress, and though it may be well-intentioned, it has no place in a community of intellectual growth."
The piece goes on to do much more, including undermining the experiences of students without diagnosis, referring to students who suffer from stress disorders as a "small percentage" despite the pervasiveness of sexual assault incidents in universities everywhere, and disturbingly stating "colleges are not safe houses for students."
It is unconscionable that people will have read this and believe it reflects the feelings of the student body, and the University of Minnesota system does not need another reason to turn yet another blind eye to victims and survivors of traumatic events.