About a week ago, students taking Asian American History had to watch “Broken Blossoms” for homework. The movie, directed by notorious racist D.W. Griffith, features explicit anti-East Asian stereotypes, racial discrimination and scenes of domestic violence. Many of the students expressed outrage at the assignment, saying that the professor and teaching assistants failed to give a trigger warning for the distressing content the movie features. Some Asian American students in the class also felt the movie assignment was actively harmful as it reified their personal experiences with discrimination. Despite a widespread desire to incorporate trigger warnings into lectures, very few students directly voiced their concerns to their teaching assistants. Many simply articulated their anger amongst themselves. 

Mindful, collaborative engagement forms the foundation of a successful college experience. Without a sense of community and presence, students and professors alike cannot engage in critical study of the world. The ability to engage mindfully with one another predicates itself on honest, empowered communication, yet in this class, as well as in others, students have stopped just short of communicating with their professors their needs and wants. Students reaffirm the need for trigger warnings amongst themselves constantly, but few take the time to explain to their professors why they need them to begin with. We need trigger warnings to create a stronger campus community by underscoring the need for discussions prioritizing mental health and community well-being.

Triggers encompass any kind of information, experience, or sensation which cause an increase in psychological symptoms related to PTSD, depression and anxiety. Trigger warnings are the attempt to flag content which is known to be generally triggering in the hopes that people can then avoid or at least prepare themselves for their triggers. Without trigger warnings in class content, professors risk alienating students and making classes and discussions inaccessible. 

The lack of a trigger warning illustrates either an inability to conceive of how certain information can be harmful or an apathetic attitude to the distress certain material might cause. This implicit assumption sends a clear message to students that their emotional needs are secondary to academic concerns, discouraging them from engaging in class fully or at least encouraging them to belittle their emotional responses. But how professors incorporate these warnings is crucial to reaping their benefits too. 

Deciding what deserves a trigger warning and what doesn’t isn’t always simple. Empowered, honest conversation amongst independent individuals is the first step in deciding what content needs prefacing. Professors who don’t know what content needs a trigger warning should ask their students and colleagues for their input. This input can help contextualize what it is people are looking for from a trigger warning and how it can be made the most helpful for them. This conversation encourages people to express their needs, and it should be treated as never-ending. In this sense, a good trigger warning sparks meaningful conversations.

A common counterargument against trigger warnings is that they are too restrictive on the free flow of information. Trigger warnings spark conversations; they seldom end them. But when triggering content doesn’t include a trigger warning, the conversation dies before it even begins. A person who finds themselves triggered unexpectedly can’t always engage with topics in a meaningful way, and if they can it often comes at a huge cost to their energy and mood. Trigger warnings can never prevent everyone from being triggered, but they can create an environment where people handle triggered responses with compassion, understanding and respect. The conversations that do die because of trigger warnings die because people have chosen to prioritize their well-being. Colleges like Yale should celebrate such sacrifices. These hard choices encourage communities to focus on the most important conversations through the most accessible methods, enhancing everyone’s ability to engage mindfully with one another. 

The lack of trigger warnings signals that mental well-being isn’t a community’s priority. The presence of trigger warnings in various capacities signals a desire for honest conversations about well-being. Yale needs more trigger warnings in classroom content, because we all need to have more discussions about who we are and what we need.

MIGUEL VON FEDAK is a sophomore in Berkeley College. He can be contacted at miguel.vonfedak@yale.edu.