The University of Chicago Has No Room for Crybullies

I’m delighted to join the many people spreading the news today that the University of Chicago, my graduate alma mater, is bucking the trend at colleges and universities across the country by refusing to pander to the delicate but demanding “snowflakes” and “crybullies” who’ve tyrannized American campuses over the past few years. As the Daily Beast reports, Dean of Students John Ellison told the incoming class of 2020 “something they wouldn’t hear on most other liberal‐​arts campuses: ‘We do not support so called “trigger warnings”… and we do not condone the creation of intellectual “safe spaces.”’” At Chicago, students are expected to live “the life of the mind.”


Just yesterday Nick Rosenkranz posted in this space about the efforts he and colleagues over at Heterodox Academy are taking to encourage greater ideological diversity in academia. On both of these closely connected issues I’ve spoken at some length and in detail — it’s not a pretty picture out there. But this silliness could not go on forever — not at these prices. Let’s hope that these are signs of changes in the offing.