Hopefully, we’ll be hearing more people in academia talking like this now.

The FIRE blog reports.

Journalism Professor: ‘College Is Not a Safe Space’

In an insightful new piece for MediaShift, Shaheen Pasha, an assistant professor of international journalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, gives her take on why college shouldn’t be the “safe space” many students have recently demanded it become, particularly when it comes at the expense of silencing journalists.

In “The Fallacy of ‘Safe Space’ on College Campuses,” Pasha writes that dealing with real-world problems is a critical part of the maturation process for college students:

College is not a safe space. It was never intended to be. It is a place where debates can turn heated and ugly and the cruel realities of the world come crashing down on students, preparing them for the very real discourse they will face upon graduation. It is a time to grow out of the protective cocoon of childhood and face the fact that the world can be an unpleasant place.

Pasha, a woman of color and a Muslim, describes her own college experience, in which she was sometimes shocked upon encountering situations steeped in racism, sex, and violence. But she says students need to learn to navigate these complex situations, rather than asking to be “coddled.” Specifically, students should never attempt to intimidate or silence journalists, whom Pasha calls “the watchdog of the people.” As a professor, she tackles tough topics in class, without trigger warnings: