The Whole Ball Game

"Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself." - Salman Rushdie

How safe is too safe? That's a question that a growing number of campuses are being forced to answer, as the student voices demanding that so-called "safe spaces" be implemented across the nation. A safe space is defined as "a place or environment in which a person or category of people can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm." On the surface, and when implemented correctly and unobtrusively, they can serve both physical and emotional refuges for students, especially those who are members are traditionally marginalized or persecuted groups. In a sense, they're the physical version of much-maligned trigger warnings, intended to keep student s from being bombarded by discomfiting viewpoints and distressing material.

The development of safe spaces over the years is as historically unclear as it is controversial. Some trace their origins back to the feminist movements of the late 1960s and early 70s, while others believe it came from the gay and lesbian movement of the 1990s. On paper, the concept sounds like a solid, harmless idea; a place for students to refrain from experiencing persecution, bias, or other microaggressions so that all parties feel comfortable enough to discuss a particular topic. However, the problem emerges within the words "safe space" themselves; by designating a particular area as "safe", you're implying that everywhere else is "unsafe." Thus, it stands to reason that you'd want to make everywhere else "safe", too, logic which causes most of the issues with safe spaces on campuses today.

That logic came into play at Yale, one of America's most prestigious universities, in October of 2015. In response to a memo asking students not to wear "culturally insensitive", associate master (a title later removed after student complaints of racial overtones) Erika Christakis said: “Even if we could agree on how to avoid offense -- and I’ll note that no one around campus seems overly concerned about the offense taken by religiously conservative folks to skin-revealing costumes -- I wonder, and I am not trying to be provocative: Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious … a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?" Apparently not. In the end, Christakis and her husband left Yale after student outcry, with accusations of racism and insensitivity abounding.

Incidents like this aren't isolated, either. I'm sure we can all remember the protests at the University of Missouri two years ago, where, among other things, student protests forced the resignation of the president and violated the First Amendment rights of student journalist Tim Tai by obstructing his right to report on the event. A student Twitter account run by the activists justified their actions by blaming white media distortion, apparently unaware of the fact that Tai is Asian American.

Credit: Mark Schierbecker 

In the video, both students and staff use intimidation, verbal and physical, to prevent Tai from doing his job. Where was his safe space, you may wonder? Well, therein lies the problem. By creating an environment of unilateral, conformist thinking and speech, the expression of alternative or contrasting opinions is shot down inside what's ostensibly a "safe" atmosphere of discussion. In what world is it acceptable, I wonder, to use physical force against another person for trying to document history on public property?  At the end of the video, the abuse of  safe spaces as a weapon of silencing other opinions is made painfully clear; a professor, Melissa Click, calls for "muscle" to remove Tai from the premises. She was later fired by the university for failing to uphold journalistic integrity, at a school famed for its journalism program, at which she was a professor in the communications department. 

Hopefully, the issue surrounding safe spaces is beginning to seem more clear. There's a fine line between free speech and censorship, and I don't envy universities the responsibility of determining which is which. Nor am I taking the position of many conservative speakers, politicians, and university officials, who want to see safe spaces done away with entirely. I think there's great value in having a place to go when you feel unsafe, so long as it's not turned into a weapon of censorship against those who aren't of the same opinion. Put like that, it seems pretty simple on paper; in practice, as we've seen, it's much harder. University officials are struggling to accurately respond to student demands while maintaining the integrity of the First Amendment, one of the cornerstones of this great nation. And students, as we all know, aren't always the most tolerant or helpful bunch when it comes to getting what they want. Time will tell if safe spaces are here to stay, or if the controversy surrounding them will explode into another politically polarized debate. Here's hoping it's the former. 

For those curious: Penn State has a safe space of its own, lodged right beneath our classroom in the Boucke Building: the LGBTQA Resource Center.