Jay Nordinger has gone Underground at Brown and here’s what he found. He found that the university had set up a retreat for university students who might be traumatised by having to listen to a speaker they did not agree with. This is what they therefore did.

Students set up a safe space for those who might attend the debate and be shaken by something they heard. A “safe space”? Yes. This space, in the words of Judith Shulevitz, writing in the New York Times, was a room “equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.”

What can anyone say about any of this?