Do trigger warnings have a place on Long Island's college campuses?
Hofstra University students on campus in 2021. Credit: Danielle Silverman
A week ago in class, Michael Matto, an associate professor of English, asked his Adelphi University students to consider the idea of trigger warnings on campus — namely when instructors alert students of upcoming content that might be disturbing and trigger an emotional response.
At first, the 19 freshmen in the first-year writing class that day appeared divided. One of them said “their generation is overly sensitive,” Matto recalled.
But the conversation turned when a classmate used Individualized Educational Plans, for students with disabilities, as an analogy.
If people don't take issue with providing accommodations to those who have disabilities, "why do we have a problem with people with PTSD getting accommodations?” Matto recalled as the student's point.
Trigger warnings refer to verbal or written notices that alert audiences, especially those who suffered from trauma, of forthcoming materials that might contain themes related to past negative experiences. They differ from content labeling, such as movie ratings, in that they intend to help people prepare for or avoid content likely to trigger memories or emotions relevant to past traumatic experiences, researchers noted.
Such warnings were first used in online blogs to alert readers to content related to sexual assaults, and they later expanded to university classrooms. For years, their use on campus has been hotly debated, but they recently drew widespread attention when the president of Cornell University rejected a student proposal that would have required faculty to alert students of “graphic traumatic content,” including sexual assault.
Similar to how Matto’s students first reacted, views vary, despite existing research that suggests trigger warnings don’t work. Even those in academia have disagreed: About half of more than 800 responding faculty members said they used trigger warnings and the other half didn’t, a 2016 NPR survey found.
Those who support the warnings said they help build trust and create a safe space in class that allows students to better handle challenging materials, especially content tied to a traumatic personal experience. Critics argue they threaten academic freedom, may chill intellectual exchanges essential to a college education, and are the wrong solution to addressing the needs of trauma survivors.
Most higher education institutions, including those on Long Island, don’t have a policy that requires instructors to offer warnings on course content.
Eileen White Jahn, executive dean of the Long Island Campus of St. Joseph’s University, New York, said she trusts her faculty, and the university leaves the matter to their discretion.
“By having a formal policy, I'm afraid that somebody would use that to … talk about getting a trigger warning for even a difference of opinion,” she said.
At Hofstra University, “Academic freedom requires that the faculty, within the scope of their expertise, exercise their judgment concerning how to write their syllabi and teach their classes,” Charlie Riordan, the university’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, wrote in a statement.
When Caitlin Compton-Almo, interim assistant academic chair for social sciences at Suffolk County Community College, first heard of the concept of trigger warnings, she thought students could use them as an excuse not to participate in a particular lesson.
“Clients don’t come with trigger warnings,” said Compton-Almo, a licensed clinical social worker who teaches students preparing to become social workers. “I'm like, well, they can't just not learn the material because it's tough for them.”
Over time, she said, her thinking evolved as she came to see the alerts as reminders for students to raise self-awareness and better care for themselves.
“If people's stress levels are really high, they're not going to be learning,” she said.
Her courses cover topics that include racism, child abuse, suicide and sexual assault. In the past, Compton-Almo had students cry in class. Last month, she told students that she would be showing a 20-minute-long video on sex trafficking on Long Island at the beginning of the next class, and those who wished to skip the video could come half an hour later. Two out of 16 did.
“It lets the students know that you care,” she said. “If the students know that you care, then they're going to feel more comfortable reaching out to you and being able to come to you with questions and navigate those tricky topics.”
Matto, at Adelphi, gives students a heads-up on challenging materials such as "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's “Canterbury Tales,” which was built around domestic abuse.
“I think that sort of compassion and decency creates a better learning environment,” he said. “You can bring them into the space to confront those things in a much healthier way and pedagogically sound way.”
The American Association of University Professors opposes mandates, but leaves the question to the judgment of teachers, said Anita Levy, acting director of AAUP’s Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance.
“We do caution that … the constant use of [trigger warnings] suggests to students that the classroom should offer protection and comfort rather than be the intellectually challenging education environments that we think they should be,” Levy said.
In a 2014 report, the Washington, D.C.-based organization noted the demand for trigger warnings creates a “chilly climate” for critical thinking and presumes students need to be protected rather than challenged in a classroom — at once “infantilizing and anti-intellectual.”
When Richard J. McNally, a psychology professor at Harvard University, taught a lecture course called “Psychological Trauma” in the 2000s, he gave one general "warning" that the course itself is not a replacement or substitute for evidenced-based treatment for PTSD.
“Trigger warnings do not work,” he wrote in an email.
In 2020, McNally co-authored a study that found trigger warnings “counter-therapeutically reinforce survivors’ view of their trauma as central to their identity.”
Payton Jones, a data scientist, was part of a team that analyzed a dozen research manuscripts from 2018 through 2022, finding that warnings have no effect on emotional reactions to materials or educational outcomes.
“The idea behind trigger warnings originally is we should warn people about things that are likely to be PTSD triggers so it can help them,” Jones said. “We now know it doesn't really help them. But the triggers are themselves real. … So I think there are things to be done about that problem. I just think trigger warnings are the wrong solution.”
Christine Szaraz, assistant director of the Center for Prevention and Outreach at Stony Brook University, gives students bystander intervention training on preventing violence. A few years ago, a student said in feedback they would have appreciated a heads-up on discussions over sexual assaults and rape.
Since then, Szaraz has added a slide to her presentation. She doesn’t call it a trigger warning but a self-care reminder. What she is trying to get at is the spirit of what trigger warnings intend to do, which is to be sensitive to student needs.
“Whether an individual faculty person chooses to include [trigger warnings] in their syllabus or not, we should still be intentionally having genuine, sensitive interactions with our students about how these topics are relating or resonating with them,” she said.
Tyler Masure, a senior at Adelphi University, said he felt “torn” on the issue. A better approach, the 21-year-old said, may be better communication.
“If a student does have an issue with a topic … alert the teacher,” he said. “Without communication, the entire process falls apart.”
A week ago in class, Michael Matto, an associate professor of English, asked his Adelphi University students to consider the idea of trigger warnings on campus — namely when instructors alert students of upcoming content that might be disturbing and trigger an emotional response.
At first, the 19 freshmen in the first-year writing class that day appeared divided. One of them said “their generation is overly sensitive,” Matto recalled.
But the conversation turned when a classmate used Individualized Educational Plans, for students with disabilities, as an analogy.
If people don't take issue with providing accommodations to those who have disabilities, "why do we have a problem with people with PTSD getting accommodations?” Matto recalled as the student's point.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Most higher education institutions, including those on Long Island, don’t have a policy that requires their instructors to offer trigger warnings on course content.
- The issue recently drew attention after the president of Cornell University rejected a student proposal that would have required faculty to alert students of “traumatic content.”
- Critics said trigger warnings threaten academic freedom and do not work. Proponents said they help build trust and create a safe space in class that allows students to better handle challenging materials, especially if they contain themes tied to a negative personal experience.
Trigger warnings refer to verbal or written notices that alert audiences, especially those who suffered from trauma, of forthcoming materials that might contain themes related to past negative experiences. They differ from content labeling, such as movie ratings, in that they intend to help people prepare for or avoid content likely to trigger memories or emotions relevant to past traumatic experiences, researchers noted.
Such warnings were first used in online blogs to alert readers to content related to sexual assaults, and they later expanded to university classrooms. For years, their use on campus has been hotly debated, but they recently drew widespread attention when the president of Cornell University rejected a student proposal that would have required faculty to alert students of “graphic traumatic content,” including sexual assault.
Similar to how Matto’s students first reacted, views vary, despite existing research that suggests trigger warnings don’t work. Even those in academia have disagreed: About half of more than 800 responding faculty members said they used trigger warnings and the other half didn’t, a 2016 NPR survey found.
Michael Matto, an associate professor of English, had his Adelphi University students debate the use of trigger warnings. Credit: Jeff Bachner
Those who support the warnings said they help build trust and create a safe space in class that allows students to better handle challenging materials, especially content tied to a traumatic personal experience. Critics argue they threaten academic freedom, may chill intellectual exchanges essential to a college education, and are the wrong solution to addressing the needs of trauma survivors.
Trusting the faculty
Most higher education institutions, including those on Long Island, don’t have a policy that requires instructors to offer warnings on course content.
Eileen White Jahn, executive dean of the Long Island Campus of St. Joseph’s University, New York, said she trusts her faculty, and the university leaves the matter to their discretion.
“By having a formal policy, I'm afraid that somebody would use that to … talk about getting a trigger warning for even a difference of opinion,” she said.
At Hofstra University, “Academic freedom requires that the faculty, within the scope of their expertise, exercise their judgment concerning how to write their syllabi and teach their classes,” Charlie Riordan, the university’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, wrote in a statement.
When Caitlin Compton-Almo, interim assistant academic chair for social sciences at Suffolk County Community College, first heard of the concept of trigger warnings, she thought students could use them as an excuse not to participate in a particular lesson.
Suffolk Community College's Caitlin Compton-Almo says she has come to view trigger warnings as reminders for students to raise self-awareness and better care for themselves. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
“Clients don’t come with trigger warnings,” said Compton-Almo, a licensed clinical social worker who teaches students preparing to become social workers. “I'm like, well, they can't just not learn the material because it's tough for them.”
Over time, she said, her thinking evolved as she came to see the alerts as reminders for students to raise self-awareness and better care for themselves.
“If people's stress levels are really high, they're not going to be learning,” she said.
Her courses cover topics that include racism, child abuse, suicide and sexual assault. In the past, Compton-Almo had students cry in class. Last month, she told students that she would be showing a 20-minute-long video on sex trafficking on Long Island at the beginning of the next class, and those who wished to skip the video could come half an hour later. Two out of 16 did.
“It lets the students know that you care,” she said. “If the students know that you care, then they're going to feel more comfortable reaching out to you and being able to come to you with questions and navigate those tricky topics.”
Matto, at Adelphi, gives students a heads-up on challenging materials such as "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's “Canterbury Tales,” which was built around domestic abuse.
“I think that sort of compassion and decency creates a better learning environment,” he said. “You can bring them into the space to confront those things in a much healthier way and pedagogically sound way.”
Opposition to mandates
The American Association of University Professors opposes mandates, but leaves the question to the judgment of teachers, said Anita Levy, acting director of AAUP’s Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance.
“We do caution that … the constant use of [trigger warnings] suggests to students that the classroom should offer protection and comfort rather than be the intellectually challenging education environments that we think they should be,” Levy said.
In a 2014 report, the Washington, D.C.-based organization noted the demand for trigger warnings creates a “chilly climate” for critical thinking and presumes students need to be protected rather than challenged in a classroom — at once “infantilizing and anti-intellectual.”
When Richard J. McNally, a psychology professor at Harvard University, taught a lecture course called “Psychological Trauma” in the 2000s, he gave one general "warning" that the course itself is not a replacement or substitute for evidenced-based treatment for PTSD.
“Trigger warnings do not work,” he wrote in an email.
In 2020, McNally co-authored a study that found trigger warnings “counter-therapeutically reinforce survivors’ view of their trauma as central to their identity.”
Payton Jones, a data scientist, was part of a team that analyzed a dozen research manuscripts from 2018 through 2022, finding that warnings have no effect on emotional reactions to materials or educational outcomes.
“The idea behind trigger warnings originally is we should warn people about things that are likely to be PTSD triggers so it can help them,” Jones said. “We now know it doesn't really help them. But the triggers are themselves real. … So I think there are things to be done about that problem. I just think trigger warnings are the wrong solution.”
Christine Szaraz, assistant director of the Center for Prevention and Outreach at Stony Brook University, gives students bystander intervention training on preventing violence. A few years ago, a student said in feedback they would have appreciated a heads-up on discussions over sexual assaults and rape.
Since then, Szaraz has added a slide to her presentation. She doesn’t call it a trigger warning but a self-care reminder. What she is trying to get at is the spirit of what trigger warnings intend to do, which is to be sensitive to student needs.
“Whether an individual faculty person chooses to include [trigger warnings] in their syllabus or not, we should still be intentionally having genuine, sensitive interactions with our students about how these topics are relating or resonating with them,” she said.
Adelphi University student Tyler Masure urges better communication between students and teachers. Credit: Danielle Silverman
Tyler Masure, a senior at Adelphi University, said he felt “torn” on the issue. A better approach, the 21-year-old said, may be better communication.
“If a student does have an issue with a topic … alert the teacher,” he said. “Without communication, the entire process falls apart.”
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
