Trigger Warnings and Academic Freedom: A Pedagogic Perspective

In recent years trigger warnings, microaggressions, speech codes and safe spaces have made their way into U.S. universities and gradually into universities around the world, seriously challenging academic freedom. In the same university classrooms where 50 years ago Mario Savio at Berkeley fought for free speech, today it seems that restrictions and limits are being invoked. What are the risks of excluding controversial issues and problems from the university debate? Starting from this context and these questions, the chapter aims to provide a pedagogic perspective connecting academic freedom, free speech and democracy, in order to rediscover the mission of the university in these uncertain times.