Stan de SD
2006-10-06 18:22:07 UTC
Here's what Lefty Liberals do on college campuses when they disagree with a
guest speaker, but lack the intellectual capacity to reason:
==================================
Violence at Columbia
Thousands of New Yorkers spent their mornings yesterday clicking on a video
on the Internet showing the astounding melee that was permitted to take
place on Columbia University's campus Wednesday evening.The violence erupted
when a crowd led by the student chapter of the International Socialist
Organization rushed a stage where the founder of the Minutemen, Jim
Gilchrist, tried to deliver a speech. They could see the university's own
police failing to take action to defend the rights of the speaker, who was
being hosted by the campus Republican club. And they had to be wondering, as
we were, where is the adult supervision on Morningside Heights.
It's not that some Columbia students chose to disagree with Mr. Gilchrist -
this newspaper does, too. It would have been entirely appropriate for school
administrators to allow students to protest peaceably outside the lecture
hall or to host a competing event. The university's willingness to allow
this event to devolve into pandemonium, however, speaks volumes about its
commitment to fostering open debate. The video of the event shows campus
police officers - paid for by the Columbia College Republicans - standing by
just feet away as students overturned tables and chairs onstage and
proceeded to attack Mr. Gilchrist and his fellow Minuteman, Marvin Stewart.
The failure of Columbia's administration to make even the meekest effort to
secure what it knew would be a heated environment in order to allow open
debate is shocking. Its protestations after the violence were unconvincing.
"We defend the right to peaceful protest and expression of opposing views,"
a spokesman for Columbia, Robert Hornsby, told us. "But it is never
acceptable for anyone to physically take to a stage and interrupt a
speaker." So why did campus police officers stand idly by as the physical
intimidation of a speaker ensued?
It only gets worse. After letting the perpetrators escape, university
administrators had the gall to berate the president of Columbia's College
Republicans, Christopher Kulawik, for allowing his guests to infuriate the
crowd, according to Mr. Kulawik. In other words, despite formally nodding to
the value of free speech, Columbia is effectively blaming the victim for
inciting the chaos. "It's a horrible feeling to know your peers are willing
to resort to violence when they disagree with you," Mr. Kulawik told our
Eliana Johnson. Yet Mr. Kulawik's peers could be forgiven for thinking
they'd get away with it, given their school's troubled history on free
speech.
Two years ago, we took issue with anti-Israel professors in the university's
Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department. These professors,
among them Joseph Massad, were accused by students of bullying those with
opposing viewpoints. Mr. Massad mocked the Jewish students by arguing, as
our Jacob Gershman reported at the time, that Zionists are the premier
propagators of anti-Semitism. President Bollinger convened a committee to
look into the students' allegations. Committee members included Lisa
Anderson, now dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, who,
while she sat on the committee, signed a letter to President Bollinger that
decried the students' allegations as a "campaign of defamation." That
committee came up dry, and Mr. Massad has since been promoted to associate
professor.
After the melee against the Minutemen, the New York Police Department told
our Bradley Hope that no complaints have been filed, nor arrests made, so
far. Police outside the building at the time were not asked to intervene.
But if criminal complaints are filed, it may be that, given the default of
the administration of Columbia, Commissioner Kelly and his department are
the city's - and students' - last best hope for adult supervision on the
campus that was once thought of as the crown jewel of higher education in
New York.
http://www.nysun.com/article/41067
More on the sad state of affairs at Columbia University...
http://www.columbiaunbecoming.com/
==================================
So are collegiate left-wingers learing their tactics from Islamic
militants - or is it the other way around?
guest speaker, but lack the intellectual capacity to reason:
==================================
Violence at Columbia
Thousands of New Yorkers spent their mornings yesterday clicking on a video
on the Internet showing the astounding melee that was permitted to take
place on Columbia University's campus Wednesday evening.The violence erupted
when a crowd led by the student chapter of the International Socialist
Organization rushed a stage where the founder of the Minutemen, Jim
Gilchrist, tried to deliver a speech. They could see the university's own
police failing to take action to defend the rights of the speaker, who was
being hosted by the campus Republican club. And they had to be wondering, as
we were, where is the adult supervision on Morningside Heights.
It's not that some Columbia students chose to disagree with Mr. Gilchrist -
this newspaper does, too. It would have been entirely appropriate for school
administrators to allow students to protest peaceably outside the lecture
hall or to host a competing event. The university's willingness to allow
this event to devolve into pandemonium, however, speaks volumes about its
commitment to fostering open debate. The video of the event shows campus
police officers - paid for by the Columbia College Republicans - standing by
just feet away as students overturned tables and chairs onstage and
proceeded to attack Mr. Gilchrist and his fellow Minuteman, Marvin Stewart.
The failure of Columbia's administration to make even the meekest effort to
secure what it knew would be a heated environment in order to allow open
debate is shocking. Its protestations after the violence were unconvincing.
"We defend the right to peaceful protest and expression of opposing views,"
a spokesman for Columbia, Robert Hornsby, told us. "But it is never
acceptable for anyone to physically take to a stage and interrupt a
speaker." So why did campus police officers stand idly by as the physical
intimidation of a speaker ensued?
It only gets worse. After letting the perpetrators escape, university
administrators had the gall to berate the president of Columbia's College
Republicans, Christopher Kulawik, for allowing his guests to infuriate the
crowd, according to Mr. Kulawik. In other words, despite formally nodding to
the value of free speech, Columbia is effectively blaming the victim for
inciting the chaos. "It's a horrible feeling to know your peers are willing
to resort to violence when they disagree with you," Mr. Kulawik told our
Eliana Johnson. Yet Mr. Kulawik's peers could be forgiven for thinking
they'd get away with it, given their school's troubled history on free
speech.
Two years ago, we took issue with anti-Israel professors in the university's
Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department. These professors,
among them Joseph Massad, were accused by students of bullying those with
opposing viewpoints. Mr. Massad mocked the Jewish students by arguing, as
our Jacob Gershman reported at the time, that Zionists are the premier
propagators of anti-Semitism. President Bollinger convened a committee to
look into the students' allegations. Committee members included Lisa
Anderson, now dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, who,
while she sat on the committee, signed a letter to President Bollinger that
decried the students' allegations as a "campaign of defamation." That
committee came up dry, and Mr. Massad has since been promoted to associate
professor.
After the melee against the Minutemen, the New York Police Department told
our Bradley Hope that no complaints have been filed, nor arrests made, so
far. Police outside the building at the time were not asked to intervene.
But if criminal complaints are filed, it may be that, given the default of
the administration of Columbia, Commissioner Kelly and his department are
the city's - and students' - last best hope for adult supervision on the
campus that was once thought of as the crown jewel of higher education in
New York.
http://www.nysun.com/article/41067
More on the sad state of affairs at Columbia University...
http://www.columbiaunbecoming.com/
==================================
So are collegiate left-wingers learing their tactics from Islamic
militants - or is it the other way around?