‘A bit overboard’: Western Sydney University VC raises questions over classroom ‘trigger warnings’
Trigger warnings and safe spaces have gone too far, coddling students and making them less effective learners and debaters, the boss of a major NSW university has warned.
Trigger warnings and safe spaces have gone too far, coddling students and making them less effective learners and debaters, the boss of a major NSW university has warned.
Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor George Williams said universities like his are “at the sharp end” of a society-wide backlash to free speech and the rise of cancel culture, after his counterpart at Australian National University Rebekah Brown offered similar cautions.
“If there’s something we need to do well, it’s that we’ve got to have classrooms where people can speak up about difficult, uncomfortable topics, and be able to disagree without trying to cancel someone,” Professor Williams said.
“Even if we get everything right in the classroom, sometimes we can’t overcome (students’) fear that they might be cancelled on social media.
“That’s a legitimate fear for some students, and we do see students wondering just what they can say without getting in trouble.”
The WSU Vice-Chancellor, who has written a new book about the issues confronting higher education in Australia, said while there are “lines that can’t be crossed” – “hate speech is out, and so is anti-Semitism” – students need to have their worldviews challenged in their tutorials.
All university staff should be promoting their labs and lecture halls as places for open debate, he said, rather than resorting to a “protective tendency”.
“In some of those cases as well, we’ve got to ask, is it actually in the interest of our students to be protective – sometimes with trigger warnings – as opposed to letting them experience discomfort in ways that might actually lead to learning, growth and resilience?” he asked.
“I think we do have a societal problem with resilience, and I think it’s particularly challenging for this pandemic generation coming through as well.”
Content warnings should still be used “sparingly” and “where appropriate” including for discussions of sexual assault and child abuse, Professor Williams argued, but have gone “a bit overboard” in some sectors including media and entertainment.
“You don’t learn unless you’ve got the ability to deal with uncomfortable ideas,” he said.
Originally published as ‘A bit overboard’: Western Sydney University VC raises questions over classroom ‘trigger warnings’
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