What do Safe Spaces Have to do With Learning?

“Safe spaces” are often portrayed as more than places—they are depicted as social situations wherein speech is curtailed to the detriment of the learning mission of the university. This talk questions that depiction, arguing that we need to be attentive to how our mission must to be effective, understand a changing world with a changing educational community and set of social relations. Dr. Palumbo-Liu concludes by arguing that we should not be tethered to how the mass media represents college communities, but rather take ownership of and responsibility for building our unique learning communities from the ground up