Some see fingers on triggers of professors’ academic freedom
MONTREAL — TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains material some readers may find disturbing.
It hinges on a debate that has some worried that professors are pulling the “trigger” in university classes that expose students to the sometimes vicious realities of real life and literature — and which could spark a debilitating reaction.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, these type of warnings have become all the rage on Internet blogs, where they can be included about a wide variety of sensitive issues — everything from misogyny, rape and racism to insects, Nazis and colonialism.
In other words, anything that might trigger a traumatic episode for vulnerable people. But this phenomenon, perhaps symptomatic of an age of political correctness, has started to creep onto university campuses, where students at some U. S. colleges have demanded that trigger warnings be included in the classroom and on course syllabuses.
Although the university had to back down and is now studying the issue, Oberlin College in Ohio controversially passed a motion last fall that asked professors to remove triggering material when it doesn’t directly contribute to academic goals, and to “be aware of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism and other issues of privilege and oppression.”
Academics panicked because it could necessitate the removal of some of the greatest literary classics from the curriculum. The Canadian Association of University Teachers alerted faculty associations to an “emerging concern” about trigger warnings, with CAUT executive director James Turk saying it’s a “well intentioned but ludicrous” idea.
“It hasn’t crossed the border yet, but it certainly could,” Turk said. “Professors never want to gratuitously make life difficult for people, but this takes it to a silly extreme. You will end up with a situation where the only thing you could read in a literature course is My Little Pony.”
In addition, some academics argue, it’s virtually impossible to anticipate every possible situation because not every trigger is as obvious as the case of someone who suffered abuse or assault that could trigger anxiety or post- traumatic stress disorder.
That’s the argument at its most extreme, but André Costopoulos, dean of students at McGill University, doesn’t believe that’s where the issue is headed. He said he hasn’t ever seen a case about sensitive material in a course that hasn’t been amicably resolved, and that it’s a very rare problem.
“The idea is to strike a balance between creating a safe environment for students and maintaining academic freedom,” he said . “We engage with difficult material at the university on a daily basis, and we don’t want to eliminate all of that. If we did, it wouldn’t be teaching. But in some cases, it’s justified to make allowances because a student really has a mental scar.”
It can be terrifying for a student who feels triggered, according to Jennifer Drummond, coordinator of the Concordia University Sexual Assault Resource Centre.
“Their body and mind will be brought back to that moment and they may feel under attack again,” she explained. “There can be intense fear and panic, or they can space out. Considering the trauma it can cause, it doesn’t take a lot to give a little warning.”
McGill professor Carrie Rentschler, director of the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, believes trigger warnings are just part of the “politics of caring.”
Rather than resorting to policies about trigger warnings, professors like Chedly Belkhodja, principal of the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia, believes common sense must prevail.
“More important than providing a warning is to talk about it,” he said. He teaches some difficult subject matter in his political science class, like genocide, and has had students who became visibly upset when he lectured on Rwanda. “It’s a sensitive moment, but the key for most professors is to address it and talk to the student.”
“People calling for this don’t understand what a university is,” said Ted Stathopoulos, president of the Concordia Faculty Association. “Universities don’t sell degrees, they award them. I believe every professor knows their material and can deal with this in an appropriate way. But any policy saying this is what you have to do is intervening in academic freedom.”