Getting Out in FrontĪmerican University has taken its stand on trigger warnings at a time of intense national debate about their use at colleges. But they will need to show medical documentation of psychological vulnerability to qualify. Students diagnosed with mental-health conditions can continue to get instructional accommodations, by working either through the university’s counseling and disability-services office or, in cases of only temporary need, through the office of the dean of students, university administrators say. If students complain that instructional content will cause them personal difficulty, the solution is to direct them to support-services offices, the resolution says. The resolution says that faculty members can continue to issue “trigger warnings,” but only to prepare students to process material, not to suggest they can opt out of exposure to it. Bass, American’s provost, the senate unanimously adopted a free-speech resolution that discourages instructors from granting students’ requests to be shielded from certain readings or discussions. She received no warning last month, however, when American University’s Faculty Senate took a step likely to complicate her efforts to avoid psychological distress. (In her two majors - psychology and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies - the warnings are common, she says.) “Nine times out of 10,” she says, “I am not going to have to opt out.” Her instructors have always granted her requests, she says. Ferber says she requests trigger warnings mainly to steel herself against psychological discomfort, but she sometimes asks to skip a classroom session she cannot emotionally handle.
She combs course syllabi and asks instructors to give her some notice - a “trigger warning” - before exposing her to readings and discussions likely to provoke her anxiety. To avoid classroom episodes, she has adopted a routine for the start of each semester. Such surprises can send her fleeing into a hallway or leave her rattled for days, she says. She focuses her studies on it, helps run a campus group that advocates against it, and hopes someday to have a career fighting it.Īt the same time, she says, unexpected classroom discussions of the topic give her panic attacks - a reaction she attributes to post-traumatic stress disorder from being assaulted off campus just over a year ago. Ferber, a junior at American University, finds herself intensely drawn to a subject that profoundly upsets her: sexual violence.
NICK SCIDA FREE
“This issue is not about free speech,” one student says. adopted a free-speech resolution that discourages instructors from granting students’ requests to be shielded from certain readings or discussions. Last month the Faculty Senate at American U.
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