The promise of a
liberal arts education is to provide challenging, unpredictable, and even
uncomfortable intellectual and interpersonal encounters in order to produce the
capacity for critical thinking, open-mindedness, and critical self-examination
in graduates who are less dogmatic and prejudiced than when they arrived; more
conscious of and able to transcend their biases and in-group identifications;
more capable of dealing with complexity, diversity, and change; better equipped
to relate with compassion to people from a diverse spectrum of viewpoints and
backgrounds; and more able to accept responsibility for the practical and
ethical consequences of their ideas, words, and actions. Rather than being
intellectually safe spaces in which all offense is banned, liberal
arts colleges could be spaces in which it is safe for students and faculty
to contend with, consider, and engage with people and ideas with whom
they fundamentally disagree. This is the kind of education that sustains a
free and open society and allows us to embrace the full breadth of our human
family.
When higher education becomes more
intellectually “safe,” the world becomes a more dangerous place.
