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Safe Space Versus Free Speech: Unpacking a Higher Education Curriculum Controversy
Thu, April 21, 2:30 to 4:00pm PDT (2:30 to 4:00pm PDT), Division Virtual Rooms, Division B - Section 4: Policies and the Politics of Curriculum Virtual Roundtable Session RoomAbstract
Universities have recently been embroiled in polarizing controversies concerning the creation of safe space and the preservation of free speech. On one hand, there is a demand for institutional safe spaces - university norms that create a sense of inclusion for minoritized students - while on the other hand there is a call for free speech, which seeks to uphold values of ideological diversity in the campus community. The author analyzes these competing claims for justice in higher education communities by drawing on critical curriculum theory and democratic education theory. The article concludes that universities must resist the false binary of this debate and instead navigate campus controversies with a democratic value informed by Amy Gutmann’s (1987) principles of non-discrimination and non-repression.