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Not long ago, I can remember reading an interview with a woman who discussed what things are like on a lot of university campuses these days. If my memory serves me properly, I recall her mentioning that these so called “safe zones” are quite often rooms that have stuffed toys and other kiddie things that the students can go and cuddle up with if they are bothered by something.

In my day (about 25 years ago) in university, I liked going to working men’s pubs and country music nightclubs well away from campus. I also discovered that I really did prefer to play hockey without a facemask or helmet (better sight and hearing and overall sense of where you were and what you were doing out on the ice). I know I’m being a little silly to mention these things, but to think that campuses are now filled to the brim with characters like the one who wrote that letter to Jerry and who need these zones just really takes my breath away, compared to even what I did back then.

Excerpt from the article:

While I do agree with you that college students today are more sensitive to issues of race and gender politics, it's simply because that's our job as learners. As college students who are engaged in a myriad of social, economic, and political issues, it's our duty to be actively engaged and educated about issues of sexism, racism and prejudice.

Gee, back in my days in college (late '70s) most people were focused on studying to pass their classes, so as to earn a degree. You know, stuff like organic chemistry, physics, structural engineering, mineralogy, petrology, structural geology, etc. We really didn't have time nor interest in issues of "race and gender politics [...] sexism, racism, prejudice." College was a way to get ahead and start a career, not an expensive extension of high school and an ill-guided social experiment.