To the Editor:
Nicholas Kristof says “universities should work harder to make all students feel they are safe and belong.” Nonsense. Such sloppy sentimentality underscores the misdirection of many of our universities and undermines the values that define adult education. No student at an American university should be “safe” from ideas, be they noxious or untrue.
Higher education is “higher” precisely because the best teachers take very great risks in challenging ideas that seem self-evident, even the risk of changing minds. As for belonging, all students were admitted and by definition belong.
Safe from violence, yes. Everything else is up for debate.
RICHARD PARKINSON
Provo, Utah
