The "Sensitivity" Double Standard On Campuses
I'm uncomfortable with the thought of Joe Biden occupying any position any more powerful than, say, emcee of a golf club roast.

However, at the coffee shop on Saturday, I spent about a half an hour talking with (and listening to) Marie, who'd love to see Biden as President, and has a number of views on a number of issues that are on the opposing end of mine.

Still, she's a thoughtful person, so I listened to what she had to say -- some of which made me uncomfortable; some of which made me cringe down into my organs. (Mainly the Biden-as-President portion of the conversation.)

Being uncomfortable is okay. It's even good. I'm all for it -- and think it's an essential part of gaining an education. In college and in life.

Alan Dershowitz writes in the NY Daily News about the "safe spaces" college students are demanding -- safe from speech that makes them uncomfortable:

However, the "safe spaces" envisioned by these protesters seem to matter only when the interests of those who share their political persuasions are affected.

There has been conspicuously little attention paid to incidents of anti-Semitism reported, for example, at Hunter College, where students supportive of Israel were chased away from a rally blaming high tuition fees on "Zionist administrators," and where protestors shouted "Zionists out of CUNY" (the City University of New York), by which they meant Jews.

Where are the cries for safe spaces for Jewish students faced with such blatant intimidation?

Instead, "safe spaces" rhetoric has been used by students to insulate themselves from ideas that they deem offensive. Last spring at Columbia, the Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board objected to the inclusion of material by the Roman Poet Ovid on the ground that "like so many texts in the Western Canon, it contains triggering and offensive material that marginalizes student identities in the classroom." Last month, an event hosted by a student-group at Williams College called Uncomfortable Learning, was cancelled due to security concerns when protestors subjected organizers to severe online abuse.

...The hypocrisy of protestors demanding protection from potentially offensive ideas while simultaneously insulting and harassing people who fail to demonstrate adequate levels of enthusiasm for their agenda should be obvious to all. But too few university administrators and faculty call out these hypocritical students for their double standard.

Let's be clear: All students should be made to feel physically safe on campus. They should also be protected from verbal abuse. Colleges should attempt to foster an inclusive and tolerant environment that allows individuals of varied backgrounds to feel comfortable discussing a wide range of intellectual, social and political topics.

...Students subjected to abuse or intimidation should be offered support services, and that may even entail setting aside "safe spaces" where they can find peace and quiet, access peer support groups and counseling services.

However, such safe spaces must not be extended to campuses as a whole. Classrooms in particular must not become intellectually sterile environments, where ideas are subjected to censorship based on the fact that they make some students feel uncomfortable. To the contrary, universities should foster discussions of controversial ideas, subversive ideas, ideas that provoke and challenge students to question their beliefs and preconceptions. That process is central to learning and intellectual progress more generally. Safe spaces rhetoric must not be allowed to undermine it.

via @SteveStuWill