Critical Considerations for Safe Space in the College Classroom

Abstract

In 2014, the popular conversation about safe space in the classroom tended to mock marginalized students seeking protection. Nearly a decade later, the discourse has become protectionist toward majority students allegedly discriminated against by being informed that they benefit from racism, sexism and heterosexism. What, then, does it mean to talk about making classrooms safe spaces for learning? Through defining six considerations for safe space, we advocate for all colleges, faculty, and students to better facilitate inclusion.

Keywords:

• Critical Race Theory
• disability
• free speech
• homophobia
• safe space

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where we began this project. We also thank the audience at the 2016 Console-ing Passions Conference, where an earlier version was presented, as well as the editors and anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 Critical Race Theory is of course a real thing. See Lawrence et al. (1993) and Crenshaw et al. (1996). However, these bills bear no relation to it, as admitted by the activist who sparked off the panic, Christopher Rufo (2021a; 2021b).