Every Campus Has a Safe Space Already

With the election of Donald Trump, the cry for safe spaces has intensified. Conservative speaker Ben Shapiro delivered a talk at University of Wisconsin titled “Dismantling Safe Spaces: Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings”—and, of course, student protesters showed up to “dismantle the violent space.”

In Massachusetts, the head of the teachers union in the state has declared November 22 a day on which teachers shall “provide places of safety in in our classrooms, schools and colleges,” in an effort to prove that “love trumps hate.”

At UVA, more than 170 professors and administrators have pledged to open their offices as safe spaces, while student groups at Columbia and Barnard created five separate safe spaces for the night after the election. And on and on …

There is a simpler way. Safe spaces already exist on nearly every campus. At Princeton, for instance, if students want a space for reflection, quiet, dignity, respect, thoughtfulness, and peace, they can find it here.

At Penn, here.

At the University of Missouri, here.

At Dartmouth.

At Oberlin.

At Rutgers.

And on and on …

Mark Bauerlein is senior editor of First Things.