The University of Chicago announced in August that the school would welcome all ideas and not suppress any forms of expression or discussion. The announcement, sent in a letter to incoming freshmen, contradicts a growing trend among college campuses that includes “safe spaces” and “micro aggressions.”

The letter told students that “we do not support so-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual safe spaces where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.”

The University of Chicago President, Robert Zimmer, explained the letter in a recent interview, citing a university’s obligation to allow discussion of all points of view. 

“The purpose [of a university] is to be a place that gives the most empowering education to students and creates an environment for the most imaginative and challenging work of faculty,” said Mr. Zimmer. “Confrontation of multiple ideas and ideas that are different from one’s own is critical to this.”

To read the full interview in The Wall Street Journal, click here.