How far would you go to keep students comfortable?

Twenty(ish) years ago a group of students decided they were uncomfortable in my class and they needed to do something about it: they banded together to write comments on my course evaluations complaining that the big hairy mole on the back of my arm distracted them from learning and therefore I should be required to wear long sleeves in the classroom.

This was back in the day when students were allegedly more resilient, but clearly that resilience didn't extend to tolerating the existence of a professor whose body did not meet their exacting standards.

But surely the adults in the room would realize that my students were being unreasonable, right? Surely the administration would have my back!

But no: the provost suggested that I should get the mole removed. Right: she thought the best response was for me to get an expensive and unnecessary surgery that would not be covered by our insurance just to keep the customers comfortable.

I've been thinking of that incident this week as our campus has been discussing how the current anti-DEI hysteria might affect us. The official response is simple: We're a private institution; we will continue to hold firm to our core values. Colleagues assure me that we may change the names of some initiatives and offices but that nothing in the current climate will affect our academic freedom in the classroom.

But I'm currently teaching a class that has occasionally inspired students to complain on course evaluations that there's too much diversity--even though half of the authors on the syllabus are white males. I feel confident in my ability to expose students to a variety of different types of authors and texts, but I worry about those few students who can't distinguish between exposure and indoctrination. Suppose a student feels uncomfortable studying Kate Chopin or Toni Morrison or Yusef Komunyakaa, and suppose that student posts a complaint or a bit of video on social media to kick up a fuss. Surely the administration would have my back!

But I'm not so sure. Granted, the provost who thought I should have a chunk of my flesh removed to please the customers is no longer with us, but the precarity of our financial situation means we might bend over backward to keep students happy. I held my ground against surgery twenty years ago--but I also stopped wearing short sleeves in the classroom, a small change just to keep the peace.

For the moment I forge ahead, boldly introducing students to the wide variety of voices that characterize American Literature, but in the back of my mind there's a niggling fear that some random comment in the classroom might show up out of context online and I'll be urged to cut a chunk of content from the course just to keep the customers happy.