The New York Times recently published a story called “Campuses Cautiously Train Freshmen Against Subtle Insults” which explores the nature of microaggressions on college campuses.

One chief diversity officer at Clark University named Sheree Marlowe offers tips on how to deal with these minor offenses by teaching students what types of this they should and shouldn’t say to people of certain races.

Things like don’t ask a black student if he plays basketball or don’t ask Asian students to help you with your math.

While it is likely that her heart is in the right place it is clear that this training might actually be more insulting than the microaggressions themselves.

While it cannot be said for all college students, a majority of students likely know how to conduct themselves in a setting in which they have to interact with a racially diverse group of people.

Why would you have to tell someone who somehow had enough intelligence to make it to college that they shouldn’t assume all black people play basketball or that all Asians are good at math?

It is possible that there was once a time in which social etiquette on such a basic level did have to be taught to young college students, but because colleges are becoming more and more diverse to begin with, it seems that students are, at this point, more or less used to it.

In addition, the implication of training students to use these tips is that people are becoming “softer.”

If a black student and a white student were getting to know each other and the white student asked if the other played basketball just to make small talk this shouldn’t be taken as offensive if they were just having a casual conversation.

It is possible for someone to take this the wrong way, but, once again, this is just a matter of having common sense and knowing what types of things you should say in certain social setting.

Thus, these tips do not take into account that there are different types of social situations in which it can be appropriate to say certain things.

In the same way that it isn’t appropriate to swear in church, but if you’re over at a friend’s house, among people that you know well and are comfortable with it’s no big deal if you speak in a way that would otherwise be vulgar.

This type of sensitivity training is starting to become common both in school and the workplace. Socially, the world is changing.

Certain words that were once very commonly used are now completely socially unacceptable and this is really for the best.

However, it seems that we have gotten to a place now where we aren’t working towards the same thing.

It must be said that Marlowe and other diversity officers who support her have good intentions in creating training programs like this.

It’s clear that they are working towards an environment where people can feel comfortable and accepted among their peers. That being said, there is a point at which we need to reevaluate the way in which we try to achieve this goal.