Tags
controlling the message, Educational Institutions, Fascism, staunching free speech, university campuses
Calling out whiny university students wanting to be coddled is emanating from surprising corners.
After rehashing her experience as a college student some of which was not pleasant, Shaheen Pasha, an international journalism professor, Muslim and a female teaching at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in an article in Media Shift writes:
College is not a safe space. It was never intended to be. It is a place where debates can turn heated and ugly and the cruel realities of the world come crashing down on students, preparing them for the very real discourse they will face upon graduation. It is a time to grow out of the protective cocoon of childhood and face the fact that the world can be an unpleasant place….
But a recent trend on college campuses is threatening to shut down that natural maturation process in the quest to create a “safe space” for students. Recent University of Missouri protests against the lack of action against racism on campus took a notable turn after protestors and faculty attempted to bar reporters from entering a public place they had claimed as a safe space. One of the motivations for the media ban was that student protestors were afraid that the media would warp their narrative.
Students trying to create safe spaces – Pasha singles out protesters at Amherst College and Smith College – are trampling on other people’s rights to disagree and to even cover their protests as reporters:
‘The argument raised by protestors is that the media can manipulate and misrepresent the facts to create an untrue picture. I’m not debating that. I understand the concern. I am a person of color and a Muslim. That’s a double whammy when it comes to representation in the media. …
The student protestors’ insistence on attempting to control their message and the way it is presented is actually taking away from the credibility of their cause. … No journalist, trained in the ethics of the profession and with a sense of personal integrity, should agree to support any cause in order to report on it. Those who do need to come to my introduction to journalism class for a reality check on the profession. Her own students have walked out of class when she taught about “the horrific 2012 Delhi rape without offering a trigger warning,” demanded an apology […]
Whether one agrees with Pasha’s article or not, it is definitely a worthy read.
Not a fan of Don Lemon but he nailed it when he said, last month on the Tom Joyner Show: “If You Want a Safe Space, ‘Don’t Leave the House” (audio below).
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