UW-Madison Health Center Wants Profs to Include Trigger Warnings on Syllabi

UW-Madison Health Center Wants Profs to Include Trigger Warnings on Syllabi

If your mental health is so fragile that you can’t view or discuss course content without a warning first, you don’t belong in college. It’s really that simple.

The health center at the University of Wisconsin Madison feels differently.

Heat Street reported:

UW-Madison Health Center Urges ‘Trigger Warnings’ to Protect Student Mental Health

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s University Health Services has issued guidelines asking professors to include “trigger warnings” about potentially traumatizing material in their syllabi — presumably to protect students’ mental health.

More specifically, Health Services wants professors at the prestigious school to provide trigger warnings before exposing students to reading assignments, films, or discussions related to sexual assault, violence, identity-based discrimination and harassment and other “emotionally triggering materials.”

Health Services also asks professors to consider offering alternative reading materials if a student finds class materials too traumatizing, and to issue a statement informing students about resources available to address “gender-based violence”.

It’s unclear what medical research or guidelines Health Services is relying on for its belief that “triggering” related to race and gender issues could cause mental health problems in Wisconsin students.

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