Those of you who scratch your head when you hear about “trigger warnings” for college students exposed to uncomfortable ideas might find some interesting nuggets in the following National Review Online article from Katherine Timpf.
The Asian-American Students Association at Brandeis University put up an exhibit to raise awareness about “microaggressions” on campus — only to end up apologizing after some students complained that they had been had “triggered” by it.
The display, which had appeared on the steps of the school’s Rabb Graduate Center, featured white pieces of paper with examples of so-called “microaggressions” that Asian people must endure, as reported by Legal Insurrection.
The purpose of the exhibit, according to a BUAASA Facebook post, was to “bring attention to microaggressions that are frequently heard in and out of the Brandeis community” and demonstrate that when “seemingly innocuous comments” “build upon each other . . . the burden can be overwhelming and frustrating.”
“This is what it feels like to hear microaggressions constantly used against you,” it continues. “These papers are invasive of a space that you often inhabit and must pass through; similar to how these remarks invade our communities and the space we share as a whole: Brandeis. The experience is often alarming, alienating, and ultimately harmful. To us, it is unavoidable.” …
… [T]he plan backfired when some students apparently complained that BUAASA’s attempt at making campus a more safe space had made them feel unsafe.
“We would like to acknowledge and apologize to the Asian students on campus who were triggered or hurt by the content of the microaggressions in our installation,” BUAASA’s president wrote in an e-mail to the entire student body today, according to Legal Insurrection.
