Before you teach Beloved in class maybe you warn the class that there is some sexual violence.

Honestly? These are college students. They can take 30 seconds to read the syllabus or the book jacket or google the thing or whatever... If you've got an issue with sexual violence it's on you to filter your content, not me.

If somebody specifically asks to be warned about something unusual then show some empathy and warn them about it.

Again - that's on them. Do your homework. Take responsibility for yourself. Are you actually suggesting that college professors send around a survey of trigger-topics at the beginning of the semester and keep a running list of things to warn about before each class?

And nobody is asking you to censor the material.

Actually, they are. I mean - that's kind of exactly what this entire thread is about. A guy wound up being banned from his own class because he didn't censor the material.

I agree that avoidance is not usually a good solution, but is that really your call to make for somebody else?

The fact of the matter is that the world is not a safe, friendly, cuddly place. You aren't going to get trigger warnings as you walk onto the subway. You aren't going to get a trigger warning as you walk out your front door. Your GPS isn't going to suggest a different grocery store because some guy is arguing loudly with his wife in the parking lot.

You need to develop coping strategies. It isn't a matter of what I or anyone else wants. You either deal with the world or you hide in your house.

If they've asked to be warned about specific content are you really going to tell them "don't you know that avoidance isn't a solution"?

No. I'll tell them that it's a college class and will be covering adult materials. The syllabus indicates what we'll be reading and it's trivially easy to determine the nature of that content. They're free to skip classes or content that they feel is too challenging, but I'm not going to make special accommodations in the grading.