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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Judith Shulevitz on "safe spaces" and campus self-infantilization

Here.

This is, of course, in the US context. I've not yet encountered this sort of on-campus craziness in Australia, and perhaps it seems a more prominent feature of American college life than is actually the case. I hope so. All the same, many of the crazy incidents that we hear about each week seem to be real enough. I don't entirely blame the students: somewhere along the line, older generations have conveyed to them that this kind of self-infantilization is normal, reasonable, acceptable behaviour.

I wish it went without saying that higher education institutions should provide milieux in which students expect, and receive, many challenges to their precious, deeply held beliefs - whatever those beliefs might be. Apparently that is now a controversial claim.

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