09/24/2024
Trigger warnings and safe spaces have been a point of educational and cultural arguments across the country. This week, that debate will come to SUNY Cortland.
But don’t expect the shouted meltdowns seen so often in cable news and social media.
“Who needs safe spaces and trigger warnings?” will feature speakers on both sides of the issue who will then have a conversation demonstrating how people can disagree constructively.
The event will take place Thursday, Sept. 26 at 4:30pm in Old Main’s Brown Auditorium. Students, staff, faculty and the larger community are all invited. A meet and greet with refreshments from 4 to 4:25 p.m. will take place ahead of the main talk.
Co-hosted by Heterodox Dragons, Bridge Cortland, and the Barbara A. Galpin '68, M '74 Institute for Civic Engagement, the event is funded by the Heterodox Academy through a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. Heterodox Dragons is the campus arm of the academy, a national organization that describes itself as a nonpartisan group dedicated to open inquiry, viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement.
The local chapter at SUNY Cortland was founded last semester by Jill Murphy, associate professor and department chair of SUNY Cortland’s Health Department, and John Suarez, director of the Galpin Institute for Civic Engagement.
“Sometimes people might make fun of safe spaces, like you have to go pet puppies somewhere,” Murphy said. “But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about how can you feel as though you can engage with another human.”
Guest speakers Nafees Alam, assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Boise State University, and Dylan Selterman, associate teaching professor at the Johns Hopkins University Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, will explain what safe spaces and trigger warnings are and discuss how these can impact free speech, mental health and learning in the classroom.
Alam and Selterman will model how two experts can engage in discussion, make their case with facts and data, listen to one another, and constructively disagree, Murphy said.
“It's set up in this very cool way where each one does a 15-minute presentation and then they sit down together to talk so they then identify what they have in common, even where their beliefs and views are different” she explained.
Beyond the content of the talk, another goal of the event is to show that having different ideas can be handled in a way that leads to greater understanding.
"(The speakers) have positive constructive dialogue and then they'll take questions from the audience,” Murphy said. “So, we thought it would be great way to bring people from outside of campus together and then model this positive behavior.”
Murphy noted that with the heightened level of polarization she’s seen, it's more important than ever to promote dialogue, not division.
“In this election year, that’s one of the reasons why John and I find this work is really important. We want to find ways we can bring people together.”
While a brief look at political polls may make it seem an imposing task, Murphy believes that an effort to truly listen and be intellectually humble can create the comfort needed to discuss opposing ideas and gain a better sense of one another.
Heterodox Dragons will continue to support its goal of open dialogue when it co-sponsors an event on Oct. 2 on the Cornell University campus with guest speaker Daryl Davis, the first Black author to write a book on the Ku Klux Klan based upon in-person interviews and personal encounters.
“Higher education especially is about being exposed to different ideas,” Murphy said. “And we need to be able to get into the same room and actively listen, seek understanding from the other person. You don't have to agree, but just try to better understand that perspective.”
For more information on the event, email Jill Murphy or John Suarez.