I’ve just written a piece for Inside Higher Ed discussing why I’m adding a trigger warning to my syllabi, and explaining what I see such content notes as contributing to the classroom environment. As far as I’m aware, I’m the first prof in the US to go public with the text and rationale for their warning.

Here’s an excerpt:

History is often ugly. History is often troubling. History is often heartbreaking. As a professor, I have an obligation to my students to raise those difficult subjects, but I also have an obligation to raise them in a way that provokes a productive reckoning with the material.

And that reckoning can only take place if my students know that I understand that this material is not merely academic, that they are coming to it as whole people with a wide range of experiences, and that the journey we’re going on together may at times be painful.

Read it all, if you like.