A Little Adversity, Please

            I have a new hero, and I’d like to introduce him to my granddaughter Allison who is starting her first year at James Madison University. His name is Jay Ellison, Dean of Students at the University of Chicago. He is not the first to welcome incoming students by telling them that the university is committed to freedom of inquiry and expression. As one might expect, he said that “freedom of expression does not mean the freedom to harass or threaten others.” But then he continued, “…we expect members of our community to be engaged in rigorous debate, discussion, and even disagreement. At times this may challenge you and even cause discomfort.” It gets better.

            “Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove to be controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas   and perspectives at odds with their own.”

            Wow! It’s about time somebody tells all those coddled millennials who claim the right not to be offended that the real world is full of adversity, and that they had better start learning about how to deal with it.

            As expected, minority groups such as the Office of LGBTQ Student Life protested. But University President Douglas Zimmer supported Ellison. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Zimmer wrote, “Universities cannot be viewed as a sanctuary for comfort but rather as a crucible for confronting ideas and thereby learning to make informed judgments in complex environments.”

            I hope Allison gets it. And it wouldn’t be a bad idea for teachers of our new high school senior class to pass Mr. Ellison’s message along as well.