There is a crisis of community at the modern American university, which is ironic, because the modern American university is all about “community”: the “community of learners” and the “athletic community,” the myriad “faith communities,” the “Black Community Services Center.” Freshmen at Harvard this year will participate in “Community Conversations,” which aims to help students “develop a sense of shared responsibility for upholding a compassionate and respectful community.”
But there is no surer sign of the absence of actual community on the American campus than the presence of “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings,” and the other trappings that are as much staples around the typical quad as bongs and Bernie Sanders T-shirts. Having spent decades making universities “diverse,” progressives are now apparently of the opinion that a diverse group of people cannot get along unless every potential source of friction between them is preemptively suppressed.
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