시카고 대학에 안전지대란 없다.

 

시카고 대학이 앞으로 “trigger warnings,” “safe spaces”와 같은 좌파 학생들의 요구를 들어주지 않기로 했다는 소식이다.

 

전 총장이었던 Hanna Holborn Gray는 “교육은 사람들을 편안하게 하는 것이 아니라, 그들을 생각하도록 하는 것이다.”라고 말했는데, 바로 그러한 이념에 충실한 조치였다. (아래는 발췌한 뉴스 기사)

 

University of Chicago to Incoming Freshmen: Don’t Expect ‘Safe Spaces’ Here

 

 

By Heat Street Staff| 3:29 pm, August 24, 2016

The University of Chicago, one of America’s most prestigious and selective universities, is warning incoming students starting this fall not to expect safe spaces and a trigger-free existence during their four-year journey through academia.

 

In a letter sent to the class of 2020, university officials said one of the defining characteristics of the school was its unwavering commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression.

 

“Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called “trigger warnings,” we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual “safe spaces” where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own,” the letter states.

 

So-called trigger warnings have been issued over everything from newspaper opinion pieces to art exhibits to reading assignments so that students who might find the content distressing or disturbing can avoid being exposed to it.

 

Safe spaces, where students can shelter from ideas or expression they find discomforting, are the other trend du jour on some campuses. Brown University last year turned a room on campus into a safe space by outfitting it with cookies, coloring books, soft music, pillows and a video of frolicking puppies, along with trauma counselors, after students complained that a speaker invited to campus would be too upsetting.

 

The report quotes a former president of the University, Hanna Holborn Gray, as saying that “education should not be intended to make people comfortable, it is meant to make them think.

 

“Universities should be expected to provide the conditions within which hard thought, and therefore strong disagreement, independent judgment, and the questioning of stubborn assumptions can flourish in an environment of the greatest freedom,” she stated.