Beyond the usual platitudes
The University of Chicago has written a little note to incoming students, in which it tells them not to bother expecting trigger warnings or safe spaces.
They all received a letter recently from John Ellison, dean of students, which went beyond the usual platitudes of such letters and made several points about what he called one of Chicago’s “defining characteristics,” which he said was “our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression.” Ellison said civility and respect are “vital to all of us,” and people should never be harassed. But he added, “You will find that we expect members of our community to be engaged in rigorous debate, discussion and even disagreement. At times this may challenge you and even cause discomfort.”
To that end, he wrote, “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.”
I added an Oxford comma in that last sentence. Sorry, but it’s better with it. This is not a safe space for people who hate the Oxford comma. Trigger warnings of an approaching Oxford comma are at my discretion.
In the fall of 2014, Peter Salovey, Yale University’s president, used his welcome speech to freshmen to encourage them to respect free expression.
“In the last year or two, we have seen more than the usual number of events on college and university campuses across this country in which the freedom to express ideas has been threatened. Invitations to provocative speakers have been withdrawn; politicians, celebrities and even university presidents invited to deliver commencement addresses have — under pressure — declined to speak to graduates; student protesters have had their signs destroyed by other members of a campus community,” Salovey said. “In the most troubling of these ‘free speech’ incidents, speakers of various political persuasions have been shouted down and rendered unable to deliver remarks to campus groups who had invited them. Although we have not seen these kinds of episodes at Yale in recent decades, it is important on occasions like this one to remind ourselves why unfettered expression is so essential on a university campus.”
And the following year all hell broke loose.
It’s things like this that keep bringing me back for more. This is why, no matter how grim the news, I will travel to Butterflies and Wheels to get depressed, to get my daily dose of despair, and to get informed.
Thanks for the laugh.
:D
Over on We Hunted the Mammoth, a(nother) blog I love, several readers are calling for the removal of a comment. Is it a sneering comment full of misogynist abuse, you ask? No. It’s someone observing that a particular, especially hostile woman MRA (now branching out into white supremacism) sounds like she may have a personality disorder.
This is being equated to claiming that all abused children grow up to be “assholes” or that all mentally ill people are bigots.
While I agree with your view of the Oxford comma, I think it was deeply insensitive of you to talk over the author of the article and impose your elitist views on punctuation onto him.
Myrhinne is a known OCERF.
And the commenters on this site are of equally high quality!
OCERF scum!
It’s all-out war.
OCERF:s should have seen it commaing.
And please don:t get be started on the catastrophé! I:ll gö diäcriticäl.
Lady Mondgreen:
Given that the rules of that site state, very explicitly, that it is not a place for internet diagnoses of stranger’s mental conditions, I don’t see how commenters pointing out a person failing to follow those rules is particularly controversial.
And the precise form of the argument for that rule is that while mental illness usually has some sort of treatment program, there’s no particular cure for asshole. Deciding to portray your opponents as mentally ill without some very solid evidence (and no, casual observation of public conduct doesn’t cut it) is giving them an out for their misconduct, while yes, feeding a perception of the mentally ill as intrinsically dangerous. It’s the same argument used for not using gender-based slurs to attack people, really–when you do so, you create an undeserved association.
Note: I”m not suggesting that rule should be instituted on every blog, or even this one. I am stating that since it is a rule, made very public, on that blog, that commenters who flout the rule should not be treated kindly.
First off: long distance diagnosis is a shaky thing indeed, and it is fine that WHtM does not wish that done on their site.
However, the reasoning that it stigmatizes all mental health sufferers to talk about some people having conditions that might cause their behavior assumes the worst of the audience; it can only have that effect if your readers are unable to understand that there are different disorders, just like a blind person and a deaf person have different sensory limitations. Furthermore, the new taboo against every associating *specific mental illnesses* with “being an asshole” is not based on reality and prevents important information from coming out.
Not all mental illnesses are the same. I don’t think it actually helps people with mental illnesses that don’t turn them into predators to deny that there is a strong connection between Dark Triad disorders and “asshole”. In fact, victims of people with NPD, BPD, or APD need to process the abuse they’ve experienced, and looking the disorder square in the face gives them a chance to understand what happened, why, and even experience the kind of forgiveness that allows that the perp is not in control of themselves, cannot change (it’s actually much easier to change “asshole” than NPD), and that they can best deal with it by preventing other people from becoming victims.
This does NOT stigmatize, on the part of anyone with an ounce of nuance, people who suffer bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, or other disorders that do not directly influence behavior to create enemies or get joy from others’ suffering. Nor, I would say is it helpful to women not to know that many men are socialized to turn depression into anger issues– an appointment with a psychiatrist for anti-depressants might have saved some marriages or prevented verbal abuse in a few cases I know of.
Silencing talk of how some mental illnesses directly cause assholishness for fear of splash damage to others is like refusing to talk about the need for wheelchair access on the basis that it might stigmatize people with disabilities that do not prevent them from walking. It prevents useful social change while sweeping problems under the rug.
Freemage, whether or not I agree with it, I understand the rationale. And it’s Dave Futrelle’s blog and his policy; he has every right to it. I am still touchy about calls to delete the comment.
For the record, the “offending” comment suggested “social disorder,” not mental illness. Even assuming they meant “personality disorder,” personality disorders are distinct from mental illness and from general assholishness.
Also, what Samantha said.
Samantha is absolutely right and I’m glad she brought that up.
The population of Oxford includes many privileged, white, ciz-males. No text including the term ‘Oxford’ can be permitted, lest it oppress, marginalize, and wield genocidal power of the the downtrodden [insert group here]
I strongly resent being called an OCERF when I made it clear that I support the Oxford comma. I just don’t think it should be imposed non-consensually.
Myrhinne’s opposition to Oxford Comma-ing is literally getting conjunctions killed!
Oxford commas are puking literally puking!