My understanding of "trigger warnings" is that they are an acknowledgement that many people have trauma they haven't overcome, and college students certainly am

My understanding of "trigger warnings" is that they are an acknowledgement that many people have trauma they haven't overcome, and college students certainly among them – these are young people, overcoming the trauma of sexual assault, for instance, is the work of years or decades, if it's even a thing. These are classes full of diverse people and experiences, and if they bring their full selves with them into the class then they'll be bringing some trauma. Some points of literature will be deeply meaningful to some in ways it is not to others. If the students don't bring their full selves, then they can just approach it academically, abstractly; not an uncommon result, but it's not a very ambitious outcome for an education. That said, I'm not quite sure what the trigger warnings are supposed to accomplish. That is, I see the problem trigger warnings are trying to address – but I don't see how those warnings themselves accomplish much. Though they could just be the preferred strawman when arguing against a whole category of sensitivity advocacy.