Incoming first-years received a letter from the College today making clear that the University of Chicago does not condone safe spaces or trigger warnings. 
 
 “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 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,” reads the letter from Dean of Students Jay Ellison. 
 
 In May, Student Government (SG) passed on an opportunity to reaffirm the University’s commitment to free speech when members voted to indefinitely table a resolution that would have condemned any student who “obstructs or disrupts” free speech. 
 
 The resolution, which was presented to SG by the president of the College Republicans club, second-year Matthew Foldi, came in the wake of three high-profile incidents in which speakers invited to campus were shut down or interrupted by protesters. 
 
 In February, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez had to leave the Institute of Politics (IOP) after she was confronted by Black Lives Matter protesters in the audience who held up signs started chanting. 
 
 The next day, the University of Chicago Police Department had to end an event with Bassem Eid, a Palestinian human rights activist and critic of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement, after protesters disrupted his speech. 
 
 Then in April members of the Armenian Students Association interrupted an eventwith a scholar who they say denies the Armenian Genocide. 
 
 After the Alvarez event was shut down, David Axelrod – Director of the Institute of Politics and CNN Senior Political Commentator – wrote a letter to the editor in The Maroon: “The great irony is that, through their actions, [the protesters] ensured no one would get the chance to ask Ms. Alvarez challenging questions.” 
 
 Two students responded to Axelrod’s piece with a letter to the editor their own: “Axelrod’s response inadvertently indicates that this institution only recognizes young black people when we adhere to the bourgeois standards of decorum that often leave our questions and concerns unaddressed.” 
 
 As the letter to freshmen began to circulate on discussion forums and social media, students and alumni praised the University’s message on its commitment to free expression. 
 
 Other students criticized the letter, saying that the University disguises hate speech as “discourse.” 
 
 In the letter, however, Dean of Students Jay Ellison wrote, “Freedom of expression does not mean the freedom to harass or threaten others.” 
 
 View the full letter below: 
 
 The full letter from Dean Ellison. Maroon File Photo 
 
 On June 2, 2016, former Provost Eric Isaacs announced the establishment of a faculty committee “to review and make recommendations about procedures for student disciplinary matters involving disruptive conduct, particularly interference with freedom of expression, inquiry and debate.” 
 
 Isaacs tasked the committee to “address the range of disciplinary sanctions that may be imposed, and make recommendations for responses in the midst of any event that is being disrupted.” 
 
 Isaacs is also asking for recommendations for “educational programming” to promote the importance of free expression. 
 
 The committee’s recommendations are due on December 15, but committee members and the Provost’s office were not immediately available for comment on whether the committee has convened. 
 
 The University of Chicago currently holds the highest “green-light” rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), an organization that rates universities’ speech policies. ||||| Looking for safe spaces on campus or trigger warnings on a syllabus? 
 
 Incoming students at the University of Chicago have been warned they won't find either in Hyde Park. 
 
 They all received a letter recently from John Ellison, dean of students, which went beyond the usual platitudes of such letters and made several points about what he called one of Chicago's "defining characteristics," which he said was "our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression." Ellison said civility and respect are "vital to all of us," and people should never be harassed. But he added, "You will find that 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." 
 
 To that end, he wrote, "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 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." 
 
 The letter referred to a website where Chicago maintains a report on academic freedom and its centrality to the university. 
 
 On social media, the letter spread through sites such as Intellectual Takeout received widespread praise from critics of what they see as political correctness. Those wanting views defending safe spaces might consider the essays here or here. And trigger warnings may be less common than critics of the practice assume. One Facebook post about the letter asserted knowledge of a Chicago professor who had used a trigger warning, but another comment pointed out that this would have been the professor's decision to make, under principles of academic freedom. 
 
 Chicago isn't the first institution to try to set a tone on these issues early on. 
 
 In the fall of 2014, Peter Salovey, Yale University's president, used his welcome speech to freshmen to encourage them to respect free expression. 
 
 "In the last year or two, we have seen more than the usual number of events on college and university campuses across this country in which the freedom to express ideas has been threatened. Invitations to provocative speakers have been withdrawn; politicians, celebrities and even university presidents invited to deliver commencement addresses have -- under pressure -- declined to speak to graduates; student protesters have had their signs destroyed by other members of a campus community," Salovey said. "In the most troubling of these 'free speech' incidents, speakers of various political persuasions have been shouted down and rendered unable to deliver remarks to campus groups who had invited them. Although we have not seen these kinds of episodes at Yale in recent decades, it is important on occasions like this one to remind ourselves why unfettered expression is so essential on a university campus." 
 
 Last fall, Yale saw heated debates over, among other things, guidance from the university on how to avoid causing offense with Halloween costumes and a letter criticizing that guidance (and the safe space concept). A professor defending the author of the letter (who was also his wife) was shouted down and had expletives yelled at him when he tried to talk to students about the issues. 
 
 Here is the Chicago letter.
– The controversial concept of "safe spaces" on college campuses—a place where members of a marginalized group can feel secure and able to express themselves—has grabbed the media's attention over the last year, spurred by such high-profile cases as the racial strife at the University of Missouri and a recent want ad posted by a black student at a California college seeking a non-white roommate. But those heading to the University of Chicago this fall shouldn't expect such accommodations, according to a letter sent to incoming freshmen, Inside Higher Ed reports. Although John Ellison, the school's dean of students, says in the letter that no one should be harassed, the university is committed to "freedom of inquiry and expression" and students should be prepared that in a collegial environment, they may sometimes feel challenged and be exposed to a certain level of "discomfort." Toward that end, per Ellison: The university won't support safe spaces or "trigger warnings" on provocative topics (both terms that Quartz says have become "nebulous") and has no intention of turning away speakers from campus if their ideas are polarizing. The Chicago Maroon, the student newspaper, documents three incidents that happened during the 2016 spring semester in which speakers invited to the school had to end their speeches or endure protester disruptions during their appearances. The paper also notes that reaction to Ellison's letter has been mixed on social media, with some saying they applaud the college's support for academic freedom—"It's about time that someone stood up against this PC nonsense!" reads one comment on the Maroon article—while others say the school's attitude toward supposedly "open" dialogue can serve as a cover for hate speech.