A Faculty’s Stand on Trigger Warnings Stirs Fears Among Students
Faith N. Ferber, a junior at American University, finds herself intensely drawn to a subject that profoundly upsets her: sexual violence. She focuses her studies on it, helps run a campus group that advocates against it, and hopes someday to have a career fighting it. At the same time, she says, unexpected classroom discussions of the topic give her panic attacks — a reaction she attributes to post-traumatic stress disorder from being assaulted off campus just over a year ago. Such surprises can send her fleeing into a hallway or leave her rattled for days, she says.