Safe Spaces are a Threat to American
environments. Yet like any issue this is
Democracy
Traven Bussell
In February of 2017, a protest at the
University of California in Berkeley
California, violence quickly erupted after
right and left wing supporters in politics
engaged in violence with each other.
Officers were called in, roads were shut
down. Donald Trump made a statement on
Twitter, “ If U.C. Berkeley does not allow
free speech and practices violence on
innocent people with a different point of
view- ​ O
N ​ EDERAL
F FUNDS​?”
(@RealDonaldTrump, Twitter). Violence at
locations claimed to be safe spaces around
colleges and university campuses have been
growing in recent years, more so after the
election of Donald Trump.
Safe spaces, throughout the previous
few years of our nation have become a
concept frequent to hear across social and
mainstream media, yet what dangers wait in
the shadows of the words; safe spaces. Safe
spaces are even becoming ever frequent to
see within educational and public
loved and hated by many. One such
argument is that safe spaces are a threat to
the democracy within our nation by forcing
people to feel one way. While another is that
safe spaces provide a location where
minorities can feel safe from persecution.
That the colleges and universities that are
endorsing safe spaces are brainwashing the
future generations of our nation. That safe
spaces lead to violence. Yet at the same
time, safe spaces in theory create a safe
environment where people can share their
issues with like minded people. This
document will seek to prove that safe spaces
are a threat to American democracy.
Safe spaces have existed for quite
some time, during the era of the Soviet
Union, safe spaces were put into effect by
Joseph Stalin, the premier of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics. This was part of
his personality cult that was formed during
his reign of the Soviet Union. The safe space
guaranteed that the people of the Soviet
Union heard only what their leader wanted
them to hear. That is still in effect to this
day, safe spaces allow one person or group
to push and urge people to feel a way. There
is no secret, in fact there have been many
studies into such a detail, that herd mentality
is in effect. People wish to seem ‘normal’
within a group of their peers. If a large
portion of people act a certain way, the
others will follow as to not stand out. This
occurs within the protests that have morphed
into violent riots that have set cities ablaze
street by street. The people are truly not
thinking like themselves, they adopt the
thought of the crowd in a sense. This is
classic brainwashing, which has been
studied for several centuries as a way to
control people. Thus, herd mentality does
play a vital part in how a safe space can lead
to protests and riots.
 A common concern with safe spaces
is that they hinder the ability for students in
general to communicate with one another. In
an interview with a certain Mr. Troy Ball,
there was the statement that ¨People are
losing the ability to interact with [other]
people.¨ which is being seen around the
country in university and college campuses.
When someone that such groups disagree
with enter the campus to speak with their
supporters, the groups that disagree flock to
their safe spaces in order to avoid their
disagreement. Once in the safe space they
are around similarly minded people who are
all angry at said speaker, thus they riot,
protest, and attack those they disagree with.
Mr. Ball mentioned that he believes that
technology and social media has an impact
on this as when someone goes on to
Facebook they generally are surrounded by
those who carry a similar argument. This
leads to to aforementioned herd mentality in
the prior paragraph of this report. When they
are around others that have similar views
they start to feel as though they are
invincible. As though they are always
correct. As such they can grow to be an
issue if they are left to their own devices.
The issue on
the table of our
nation is the
fact that the
millennial
generation is
too weak to
allow
improvement.
They seek
change and
how does one achieve change, they beat
down those that they disagree with.
Violence caused from safe spaces has been
quite frequent within our nation’s colleges.
When someone enters the campus that these
liberals and socialists disagree with, they
attack them and their supporters. Uncalled
for in every way, just like how the mouse
when you are typing in google docs and then
half your paper is missing. Anyway, on
multiple occasions these ‘protests’ turn into
all our riots. Such as the riots at Berkeley.
This is becoming an issue within the nation.
As such riots have become a security issue.
For example, the ANTIFA, or Anti-Fascist
Action, have been made domestic terrorists.
As FOX news put it, “ANTIFA terrorists use
organized and systematic violence to attack
not just those they disagree with, but also
anyone nearby.”(Ned Rvun). Safe spaces are
promoted by the ANTIFA, they wish to feel
safe, and yet they attack those who they
disagree with. Such violence within the
United States of America is a threat to
democracy. And yet this violence is
spreading across the entire union, and as
stated, violence is a threat to American
democracy, therefore safe spaces that create
said violence are also a threat to American
democracy. Or at least that is one of the
debates commonly supported by those of
right leaning tendencies. For example,
students who support the safe space within
colleges attempt to force the school to
comply with their beliefs. One such student
was Jonathan Butler, of which a certain
Nicholas A. Schroeder of Brigham Young
University claimed that this young man went
on a hunger strike until the University of
Missouri (U.M.) complied with his
narrative. In doing this he managed to
acquire allies with the U.M. football team.
Together along with other protesters they
managed to force the president of the U.M.
to resign. Schroeder claimed that this
received and “created a hotbed for
disagreement and resentment between
students and media sources when protesters
attempted to banish the media from covering
the event.”(326). Within the Bill of Rights,
the right of the media is protected. The
media being able to report on a subject
allows the people to form an opinion on the
subject. Yet when these thugs seek to ban
people from reporting on the topic because
they feel that they will get negative
responses, then this is a threat to our
democracy. Our democracy as we need
people to remain informed. There is a reason
the media sources are biased, this helps
support our two party democracy.
Discussing the two party system, the
United States employs as her source of
democracy is quite important to maintain the
democracy itself. As a two party system
both parties would be constantly attacking
each other in order to prevent the other party
from obtaining too much power and
influence within the nation. This is
important as no one party would be able to
seize control of the government without the
other party forcing that party out from
power. Democracy is a fragile institution.
For example, Nazi Germany was formed as
parties flocked to support the one they
agreed with most until only Adolf Hitler’s
NASDAP remained. In all tyrannies, one
thing is similar, the limitation of the
peoples’ rights. With the freedom of speech
being a major point, as well as disarming the
population. When you prevent the people
from speaking, you can control them. That is
what those who fund and run these safe
spaces desire. Control over the weak grants
donors a great deal of power.
Freedom of speech is protected by
the Constitution of the United States under
the First Amendment. Within many colleges
and universities across the United States in
the wake of the 2016 election, many
minority students and pro-Hillary voters felt
offended by the pro-Trump rhetoric around
schools. As such these people attempted to
make the schools force these people to stop
talking and stop with their rhetoric. This is a
violation of their freedom of speech and of
the United States democracy. If a group
silences another because of their political
beliefs then our nation is no worse than the
DPRK ,more commonly referred to in the
west as North Korea. According to Katlyn
Ayn Patton, “The “Build the Wall” and
“Trump 2016” displays at public universities
employing these more restrictive codes
could serve as a tool for universities to
curtail this more controversial speech;
however, these restrictions are likely to be
found unconstitutional if challenged in
court” (197). That is the issue, limiting
speech is unconstitutional because limiting
speech is a threat to democracy. These are
public universities and schools paid for in
part by taxpayers dollars who seek to limit
speech due to the students weakness. That is
the root of this issue, weakness. People in
our nation are offended by everything in our
world, A “Trump 2016” sign would be
ripped to shreds while a “Hillary 2016” sign
would be proudly boasted. If people can not
support their political beliefs, then how can
democracy continue on , this is quite clearly
an attack on the democracy within our
nation.
This issue has brought up both
support and conflict as mentioned
previously within this report. Many people
have taken to the internet to voice their
concerns over safe spaces whether for or
against the subject. In a TIME article Karin
Agness voiced concerns that sound just like
what Mr. Troy Ball explained. Ms. Karin
Agness claims that “ Campuses should be
hotbeds for intellectual diversity- where
ideas constantly are clashing , and students
regularly are challenged to think critically,
learn new ideas, communicate their
positions”. this statement would greatly
improve a students viewpoint on issues.
College should not be confined to a single
viewpoint and those who disagree are beaten
and arrested as if they are the people at fault
for ‘instigating’. Rational people tend to be With that said, do allow me to pressure you
older, there is a reason why one must be a good reader with a question. What do people
certain age to become a politician, as gain from being exposed to safe spaces?
younger people are not fully developed in
their brains. Yet more often the younger
generations are trying to take more control
over politics.
This report has gone into detail on
issues concerning the safe spaces that are
rapidly expanding their control over
American education. There have been
repeated examples of violence erupting
when those who are opposed to safe spaces
are attacked by those who support safe
spaces just because they do not agree. That
the United States of America is becoming
more communistic in nature with the lost of
the first amendment rights in many
educational environments. The young of
today is the future of tomorrow of our
country, a solution of removing safe spaces
through government intervention would help
greatly at protecting the rights of the people.
While safe spaces would be alright if those
who support them did not force those around
them to comply with their narrative. Yet
better so, abolish the safe space in order to
create a true learning environment. Life is
not soft, if the young can not get over their
nonsense then their lives will be horrible.
Sources and References:

Flemming Rose, Safe Spaces On College Campuses Are Creating Intolerant Students, The World
Post, 03/30/2017
Works Cited
Agness, Karin. "Dear Universities: There Should Be No Safe Spaces from Intellectual Thought."
Time.Com, 12 May 2015. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=102614966&site=ehost-live.
Works Cited
Tsesis, Alexander. "Campus Speech and Harassment." Minnesota Law Review, vol. 101, no. 5,
May 2017, pp. 1863-1917. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=123044142&site=ehost-live.
Works Cited
Schroeder, Nicholas A. "Avoiding Deliberation: Why the "Safe Space" Campus Cannot Comport
with Deliberative Democracy." Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, vol. 2017,
no. 2, June 2017, pp. 325-358. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=124360046&site=ehost-live.
Works Cited
Patton, Katlyn Ayn. "Trumping the First Amendment: Student-Driven Calls for Speech
Restrictions on Public College Campuses." Case Western Reserve Law Review, vol. 68, no. 1,
Fall2017, pp. 189-212. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=127811833&site=ehost-live.
Works Cited
Ryuen, Ned. “Antifa is a domestic terrorist organisation and must be denounced by
Democrats.” FOX news. 15 Sep, 2017. WEB.
Murphy, Svriuga. “Trump lashes back at Berkeley after violent protests block speech by
Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos.” The Washington Post. 2 Feb, 2017. WEB.
UC. Berkeley, Logo.