"You should be challenged when you go to college."
Challenged is an entirely different beast than being told that you don't deserve to be there, that you don't deserve the same basic human rights of others, or being told that you shouldn't exist. THOSE are the things that "safe spaces" are meant to provide respite from.
I disagree with this line of thinking. College shouldn't culturally be a "safe place". It should be physically safe, but culturally? You should be challenged when you go to college.
This "safe place" idea could apply to anyone. Should the highly religious, sheltered home schooler feel culturally safe at college from the predominate culture that went to schools with other kids and were exposed to different views?
Of course not.
> If we want to argue that a college space isn't a place where people are by default treated with respect
Treating people with respect is different from exposing them to ideas that might challenge their beliefs, or might be culturally different.