ASHE SCHOW: ‘Safe spaces’ have become about exclusion, not free expression.

Over at the Washington Post, Brown University President Christina Paxson argues that safe spaces are about free expression, not its exclusion.

She’s not entirely wrong, and as she points out, there have essentially become two types of safe spaces on college campuses in recent years. One is perfectly acceptable — groups of students with similar interests or backgrounds joining together to share experiences and ideas. These are otherwise known as friend groups.

The other is clearly designed to excude, and that’s the kind that turns adult students into toddlers. Paxson noted one such instance of this, and tried to make it seem like it doesn’t happen often. The incident Paxson described occurred at Brown University several years ago, and included a room with “cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.”

The reason such a room was necessary for these students was because Wendy McElroy was speaking during a debate and suggesting that the “rape culture” narrative permeating colleges and universities across the country is not accurate. Students so wrapped up in this narrative regressed to children and needed a room similar to what would be found at a preschool.

Paxson described this room “as a resource to support survivors of sexual assault.” Even in that context, it was crummy. Does this mean Brown thinks survivors of sexual assault are no longer adults? That once a sexual assault has occurred, a victim can never — or should never — move on with their life?

They’ll turn us all into childlike victims ’cause they’re easier to please.