Trigger Warnings

Pascal Konzack Ms. Margaret Haverty Academic Writing 26th February 2024.

Navigating Trigger Warnings: Balancing Classroom Safety and Educational Quality in Higher Education Abstract Since the last few years, Trigger Warnings have increasingly shifted into focus. Especially for students that suffer from trauma, PTSD and other disabilities that cause triggering conditions, trigger warnings are a necessary step to protect their wellbeing. Many academic institutions see a risk in censorship and feel that trigger warnings have an infantilizing effect on students. There needs to be a debate on how and to what extent trigger warnings should be implemented. Therefore, this paper delves into the question: "What measures can be implemented to incorporate …show more content…
The letter first-year students received from Jay Ellison, Dean of Students at the University of Chicago, clearly shows the dislike of faculty staff towards triggering warnings. “Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings’ and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’”(Jay Ellison qt. by Grieve and Editor in Chief). It is also believed that “’Protecting’ students from ideas with which they disagree, or which offend them, is an example of a limitation on academic freedom” (Antelman 475). Therefore, it is argued that applying trigger warnings is to be considered a form of censorship, Antelman says. Balancing Safety and Quality “[C]ontent warnings can never be more than the subjective judgment of a library employee at a given time about what may be ‘offensive’ or ‘harmful’” (Antelman 466). This pinpoints the problem with trigger warnings. “Labeling as an attempt to prejudice attitudes is a censor’s tool” (Antelman 462), yet it is indisputable that “[l]abeling is an action; it is speech in itself” (Antelman 476) and therefore will ultimately lead to prejudicial opinions. “[Creating] intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives that odds with their own” (Jay Ellison, qt. by Grieve and Editor in Chief) also collides with academic …show more content…
Still, it is proven that “[canceling] invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial” (Grieve and Editor in Chief) is harming an academic environment, and the implementation of a set of base rules on how to cover most triggers should be made. Creating warnings to inform the students a topic may be triggering for people with common triggering conditions, whilst keeping the usage of prejudice-inducing words at a minimum. Creating general information for students to report any triggering conditions to faculty staff beforehand, so that they can act

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