BUZZ
OPINION: Safe spaces and coloring rooms are still with us
As that nation’s future Supreme Court justices, solicitors general, and elite law firm attorneys start school at Harvard University, the Ivy League is ensuring they have everything they need to take a “break from the noise.”
The freshman orientation for new Harvard law students reportedly promoted “low sensory rooms,” according to National Review.
The rooms include “weighted blankets, dim lighting, fidget toys, and more,” according to reporter Abigail Anthony.
Anthony opined: “Of course, the people being trained to work 80 hours a week at a Big Law Firm cannot be expected to manage a couple hours of orientation events without palliative care.”
Students can also relax in wellness lounges with “massage chairs” and “lowkey crafts and activities.”
The school reportedly informed students of the dozens of “gender-inclusive bathrooms” on campus as well.
Reactions to the news were mixed.
One person commented on the National Review article and said, “This is overkill, but providing a quiet space for those who experience sensory overload is both reasonable and humane.”
Another wrote: “If someone handed me a fidget toy or a colouring book with which to relax at work, I’d just be embarrassed.”
The fidget toys and childlike activities are nothing new – in fact colleges rolled them out during the “safe space” era of the mid-2010s and then subsequently to help students cope with Donald Trump’s presidential election in 2016 and 2024.
The Fix previously reported on the 2016 response:
The University of Pennsylvania created a “breathing space” for students troubled by the Trump win, complete with coloring books and craft-making, along with a puppy and some cats to cuddle.
Students at Cornell University held a “cry-in” regarding the outcome, with one student saying she was “quite terrified, honestly.”
Activists at fellow Ivies Yale, Brown, and Harvard had demanded their universities become “sanctuary” campuses for undocumented students because Trump had threatened to end the DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, program.
The University of Michigan Law School held a post-election event featuring “self-care activities such as coloring sheets, play dough, [and] positive card-making.”
If Harvard Law needs a few more toys, I still have a stuffed dinosaur from my own “safe space.”
MORE: Northwestern University’s president defends ‘safe spaces’
