There is a HUGE difference to purposefully seeking out "disturbing ideas" for your own education and shoving those ideas down the throat of someone who actually lived through one of them.

Surely by going to university though, you are essentially signing up to discussing "'disturbing ideas' for your own education"? You said "it's a personal choice to read books...", but it's also a personal choice to go to a university.

I suppose one aspect you can argue is that all students had to take this particular course. If someone was studying English Literature for example, and was complaining about triggering subjects, I would say that person is simply in the wrong field of study and should study something else. In this case, it seems all students have to take the course regardless of the major. However, as an adult you need to take responsibility for your own education. Research the college and the courses you might have to do, and if you think that some of it will be an issue, then go to another university. It seems strange to me to go to a university without researching what you will be studying, and then complaining about it.

What if this was a different situation? Someone who had PTSD and struggled with memories of war. Would you find it okay to watch a professor vividly describe a horrific scene to this person, and then still find it okay to marvel at the beauty and splendor of your professor's words?

If the professor was describing the scene to the individual, alone then that would definitely be messed up. However, if it was a lecture theatre of 200-300 students, then yes, absolutely. I will definitely marvel at the writers words (if I did in fact find them "marvelous" of course).

EDIT: I was supposed to mention that I'm coming from a non-American university background. I don't know how the university culture is there, but I'm just writing under the assumption that these things are happening at my university.