The Triggering Effect
They had equipped the room with cookies, colouring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies. They had sealed the windows and softened the lights. Students and staff members trained to deal with trauma stood in a row. The trauma coordinator glanced at her watch. No one spoke.
Two, three, then four students, one of them crying softly, entered the room. The crier sank into a pillow. A friend stroked her hair. One student ate cookies and watched the onscreen puppies frolic. Another picked up a crayon and began to fill in a colouring book. Within 30 minutes, the room was filled with two dozen or more students. “I was feeling bombarded by a lot of viewpoints that really go against my dearly and closely held beliefs,” one student said.
Social media and an article in the school newspaper had warned students of the debate and its possible Triggering Effect. “Students should not be threatened by ideas that challenge their most deeply held convictions,” the article said. “But since the Students for Social Justice Action Committee could not get this debate cancelled, it will set up a safe room adjacent to the lecture hall, where traumatized students can get help.”
The day after the debate, another article appeared in the school newspaper. “Debates like these serve no other purpose than to alienate half the student population,” the article said. “The SSJAC need to get out and demonstrate and force the administration to comply with our wishes to shut down debates of this kind.”
The demonstration took place three days later. The university no longer hosts debates of this kind.