Resident assistants at the University of Miami are urging students to monitor their classmates’ speech, and call them out for any microaggressions.
“Ask ‘what makes you say that?’ or ‘did you know that can actually be taken as offensive?’” a new display on campus says.
It’s part of a new display that the RAs put up on campus titled “SAY WHAT?!” to educate students on the dangers of innocuous statements and questions known as microaggressions.
The display contains vile phrases like “I don’t see color,” “You speak English very well” and “Can I touch your hair?” as examples of microaggressions that would undoubtedly ruin anyone’s day.
It’s a call to civility dictated by the terms of political correctness. The display asserts that people can hear many microaggressions in a single day, which can build up.
In 2015, the student government at the university wrote an open letter in solidarity with the student protests at the University of Missouri. The letter highlighted “microaggressions” faced by non-white students as its leading concern.
Late last year, the University of Miami canceled an appearance by conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos after campus faculty raised “security concerns” over the event, which required the student organization that planned the event to put up $22,000 in various costs.
The move to educate students on the dangers of accidentally offending someone is part of a nationwide trend in colleges to curb political incorrectness. Students are urged to question their sexual orientation, establish a “gender identity,” and embrace the politics of the progressive left. It has resulted in a loss of freedom of speech as dissenting opinions are shut down—whether it comes from faculty or students.
A federal judge recently warned Yale University to correct its course and reaffirm its commitment to the First Amendment in the wake of its erosion. The University of Miami would benefit from a voice of sanity.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken game critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.
