My friend got kicked out of a student government meeting for reading a book title out loud

This was last Tuesday at our state school in Ohio. The meeting was about funding for campus clubs. My friend brought a copy of a book he thought was relevant to the topic. When he tried to mention it, the student chair cut him off and said his 'material' wasn't approved. He literally just said the title, 'The Coddling of the American Mind'. They told him to leave for 'disrupting the safe space'. It wasn't even an argument, just a book he wanted to reference. The whole thing was over in maybe two minutes. Now he's worried about getting written up. Has anyone else seen a student leader shut down speech that fast over nothing?

3 comments

3 Comments

angelac632mo ago

That "safe space" line gets me. I saw the same thing happen at a club meeting where someone just asked a simple question about the budget. The person running it called it a "microaggression" and ended the discussion. It feels like some people just use those terms to shut down any talk they don't like.

miam112mo ago

Sounds like your friend ran into someone on a power trip. @angelac63 has a point about how those terms get used as a conversation ender. The title itself isn't even an attack, it's just a book. Getting kicked out for that is wild, and it makes the whole "safe space" idea look like a joke when it's used to stop any mention of certain topics. Your friend shouldn't get written up for that, it's not a real disruption.

jana_hernandez5d ago

Yeah, I read an article that said some universities are actually banning books now.