http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2016/05/19/what-college-students-mean-when-they-ask-for-safe-spaces-and-trigger-warnings/
It's a mixed bag. There are some complaints that seem reasonable
Zanib Cheema wrote:
Sometimes they’ll just stick my face on something… They were doing a university life presentation… and they had one slide and the title was “diversity,” and the face was me. That’s it … I’m not the only person, you know, it’s not just about me. There are so many minority groups; you can’t just put one title to it.
The example cited may or may not be tokenism, but I suspect we've all seen similar attempts to showcase an institution's supposed diversity.
Then, there are ideas that seem wrong-headed
Roquel Crutcher wrote:
Recently, braids are a thing, and that to me is cultural appropriation because I spent my entire life wanting to look like a white person, basically, and then the one moment where I do decide that I actually like the way that I look, it was kind of taken away from me. It’s just kind of hurtful, because the reason we wear braids is completely different from the reason white women wear braids, and it just takes away from the culture and from the fact that sometimes cultures don’t have a choice.
Braids are cultural appropriation? Really?
Overall, there are some perspectives on the issue that may not habitually enter the conversation. I'm still thankful my college is not a fan of safe spaces, trigger warnings, and so forth, but there's value in understanding the thinking behind some recent demands, however strongly we may disagree with them.
↧