Woody Allen once said that “80 percent of success is showing up.” Yesterday, Columbia University established its academic corollary: 80 percent of defeat is not showing up. In a disgraceful decision that deprived students of one of the most memorable moments of their lives, the university yielded to protesters who have occupied parts of the campus and buildings. Instead, graduates will be allowed to go to small-scale graduations.
It is a profile of cowardice that will stain the record of Columbia for years to come.
Notably, the graduation is ordinarily held on the space where students set up an encampment, but that space was finally cleared by police last week. It did not matter.
Columbia stated that “holding a large commencement ceremony on our campus presented security concerns that unfortunately proved insurmountable…Like our students, we are deeply disappointed with this outcome.”
“Insurmountable?” It is your campus. These are your students. Hold the damn commencement.
Columbia said the security advisers identified “too many variables” for holding the commencement and that adding security would only trigger the protesters.
So the solution, once again, is to do precisely what the protesters wanted.
Schools like University of Southern California said late last month that it was canceling its main commencement ceremony, citing similar security concerns.
Protesters disrupted the commencement at University of Michigan this weekend. However, Michigan did not yield. They handled the disruption and held their ground. They held their commencement.
The decision by Columbia is consistent with how administrators have approached disruptive protests for years. While some of us have called upon schools to suspend or to expel students preventing others from speaking on campus, universities have yielded over and over again. Indeed, citing security concerns became an easy way for schools to cancel conservative speakers while professing neutrality on the content of their views.
Faculty have not only encouraged but participated in such cancel campaigns.
Even classes have been stopped by protesters at places like Northwestern without any repercussions for the students. Northwestern (my alma mater) is the ultimate example of administrators picking the path of least resistance in the face of radicalized students. Recently, seven out of 11 members of the “President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate” resigned in protest.
Under the controversial agreement, the school will admit five Palestinian students each year, support two Palestinian faculty members annually, create special housing for Muslim students, and add students to Committees to review purchases from Israeli businesses.
Columbia has been consistently ranked at the very bottom of schools for free speech due to its intolerance for opposing viewpoints and failure to protect a diversity of opinions on campus.
Even the dean of its leading journalism school has warned against the “weaponization of free speech.” One of Columbia’s centers publicly complained when Justice Brett Kavanaugh was allowed to speak on campus.
When Columbia finally drew the line at protesters damaging and taking over buildings, the response from many students and faculty was outrage.
After Hamilton Hall was cleared by police, the editors of Columbia Law Review asked for the cancelation of exams because they were emotionally compromised. The editors wrote that the clearing of the unauthorized encampment constituted traumatic “violence” that left them “irrevocably shaken” and “unable to focus.” They were joined by editors of five other law journals, including the Columbia Human Rights Law Review & A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual.
They portrayed the trauma as the appearance of counter protesters and police on campus, accusing a “white supremacist, neo-fascist hate group” of “storming” campus. The Columbia students told the university that “many are unwell at this time and cannot study or concentrate while their peers are being hauled to jail.”
Columbia then faced threats of protests at the commencement, so it solved the problem by doing what the protesters were demanding. Of course, it did not solve the problem. Columbia is the problem. It is an example of how administrators have yielded control over their campuses to the loudest and most aggressive elements in their community.
Higher education is not supposed to be an academic version of the Hunger Games where the last person standing wins in a contest of attrition.
It is perhaps only appropriate that Columbia’s final lesson for graduates should be a continuation of years of yielding to the demands of those who dictate what can be said or done on campus.
Many of these students were denied commencement ceremonies four years ago. They worked to get into Columbia and many of their families had to make huge sacrifices to allow them to study at the university. As protests ramped up, they found themselves barred from campus and told again to take remote classes. A Jewish professor’s access card was deactivated because his presence on campus was viewed as too inflammatory for the protesters.
When they are finally ready to celebrate that moment, they have been told, again, that commencement is cancelled. However, this is not due to a pandemic but protesters. They will have to go to smaller graduations that are less objectionable to the radical elements of the student body.
Henry David Thoreau once said “The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.” It has the same effect on higher education. There was a clear path open to Columbia. Hold the commencement and hold any disrupters accountable. In choosing to yield, President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik has abandoned not just these graduates but the integrity of Columbia.
This will only embolden them.
When Pelosi ripped up the SOTU speech,
it made a very big splash that’s still rippling out…
At least Biden’s losing more and more votes over these protests.
Oh what a shame that elite American students won’t have a graduation ceremony this year! Meanwhile, Palestinian children are being slaughtered by one of the most virulent hateful and war criminal regimes on the planet. Gaza was 80% children — and now over 20,000 of them are dead. They will never see a graduation — or even go to school. And Turley doesn’t seem to be concerned about free speech in the case of the Columbia students either, or about the fact that the police, many of whom were trained by the IDF, are using exceptionally violent tactics against peaceful demonstrators, or that celebrities are funding zionist gangs to create violence during the otherwise peaceful demonstrations. Mum’s the word on the crimes of the zionist state and its apparatchiks.
Yes, the Gaza children will never graduate from Suicide Vest College, or Infidia University. Do you really think that the parents who cheered on their barbarians who raped and gastly murdered unarm citizens of Israel, cheered and videoed taped their crimes and cheered in the streets of Gaza as they dragged dead nude bodies of their young raped victums through their streets and the same people who cheered when the Twin Towers fell in NY killing innocent victims from over 100 countries are going to educate their children to be better citizens? I wish it was not true but it is, and there is only one way to deal with this collective deprived mind set. The same way sound minds did with Nazi Germany and Rome did with Carthage.
Palestinian children are being slaughtered by one of the most virulent hateful and war criminal regimes on the planet.
Palistine declared war on Israel on Oct 7th. This is what war looks like. As to your numbers of dead and injured, there are no facts, Only claims of Palastine.
“there are no facts”
another deluded right wing gasbag here.
you sound like some left wing freak, there are no facts, only interpretations of facts huh, straight out of some Columbia university graduate student’s mouth.
the American right needs to get over its weak attitude to Israel, born out of whatever idiotic heresy, Scofield bible or some tv evangelist media campaigns or wherever it comes from, and quit picking fights to help foreigners
and that includes Israel
Gio also wrote in 1944 that the German children will never graduate from college and the Japanese children will never go to their proms. I don’t recall him writing about the Syrian kids, the Chinese kids, the kids of Africa, the Taliban women and girls, the ISIS brides, the Iranian gay kids or Jews in any Arab country.
Gio is a Jew hating bigot using a horrible war to attack his favorite target, Jews. Notice he doesn’t mention that Hamas could end the plight of the kids in one minute. Notice he doesn’t mention Jews killed by Hamas. Notice he doesn’t mention anything except hatred for Jews.
Gio is a KKK guy, a slave holder and defender, a racist bigot, a Nazi and a loser.
Gio, when you shave you see a nazi. Now go back to your reading of Hitler, Goebbels and all the other Nazi idols of yours. You Jew hating animal.
Nothing warms the heart of an American Jew more than the Confederate flag.
Hullbobby, you did an excellent job of describing GioCon. You left out his intelligence classification. Is GeoCon a moron or an idiot?
Students, parents and others that have been bullied, harassed, assaulted or excluded from public places by protestors at Columbia and other institutions should file a complaint with the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights. The complaint form is available at this link: https://www.justice.gov/crt/filing-complaint
That Columbia, USC and other institutions are cancelling graduations, events or classes due to the threat of violence against Jewish and pro-Israel students, parents and others should provide strong evidence in support of any complaint.
Gee Professor, That language is a little salty.
I note a certain amount of exasperation in the tenor of your writing today.
In a way I feel sorry for the students who have been robbed of their time in the sun. I remember my college graduation, high school and medical school and it was always a matter of transition to a higher plane of competition. Time to enjoy the accomplishment with your family and contemplate the future. On the other hand these students picked Columbia, which like many of the Ivy’s has lived on their history and not accomplishment for years.
Personally I am thrilled with the Ivy League falling from Grace and some otherwise expensive colleges showing the same lack of backbone in this matter. We need leadership in this country but not what we get from the Ivy League. There are many great universities out there who are eager to take your money and educate your children. Use them.
Not exactly a Profiles in Courage moment for Columbia.
Somebody wrote above that “someone has to stop the carnage” and I ask Why? When you start a war then you have to be prepared for the cost and maybe losing.
Maybe it is time to knock over all the buildings in Gaza and sow the ground with salt.
GEB: Or maybe it’s time to stop the 75-year occupation and theft of Palestinian homes and land. There was a reason for Oct 7, and history did not begin on that day. To harp on missing a graduation ceremony when children in Palestine are being shot and starved is, well psychopathic.
You are ignoring the people Palistine stole the land from?
when was that iowan, back when the Babylonians destroyed the first temple, and took the Israelites into slavery?
or would that be the Persians who repatriated them and rebuilt the temple, or the Greeks which took it from the Persians, or the Romans who took it from the Greeks and then destroyed the temple again, or the Arabs who took it from the Byzantines and built the Al Aqsa mosque on the ruin of the temple, or the succession of conquerors after that including hte Crusaders, before the Ottoman Turks had it and called it Filistin, and then when they lost ww1 the British had it until the Irgun started its car bombing campaign against them, and then in 1947 the state of Israel was established and they promptly threw hundreds of thousands of Arabs out of their homes without any eminent domain just compensation (that’s just for American notions of justice not Israeli ones), and thence a lot of them to… Gaza
you guys apologizing for Israel need to quit reading these bogus Israeli edited propaganda versions of it sold by Jewish publishing houses and read some real history books
you guys apologizing for Israel need to quit reading these bogus Israeli
Thanks that’s a great history of who controlled the land in question.
Why does Palestine lay claim? What makes them special?
What you accurately laid out is the history of man. fighting and taking territory. over and over and over again.
Palestine has no special claim to the land
The fight is not about who controls Gaza. The fight exists because Muslims are only capable of exterminating Jews. Palestine is at war with any neighbor, that is not Muslim, and they have problems with several of those tribes.
The Muslim religion is one of conquering land, and subjugation of its people. The conquered will convert to Muslim or die.
This is inaccurate historically as well. Jews lived throughout the Muslim world for centuries, a millenia, fairly unmolested as a group, only paying the capitation tax on socalled infidels, which many Christian jurisdictions imposed at the same time as well. Many Christian kingdoms did not follow the Pope’s directive, Sicut Iudeous non, don’t hurt the jews.
To the point, how did all the Jews which were thrown out of Spain in 1492 get there in the first place?
The Moors brought them.
It was only in the 20th century that Jews and Muslims became locked in the level of conflict that we now see.
Palestinians, hundreds of thousands, were thrown out of their homes by newly formed Israel, and nary a dime of compensation such as we might have for a state exercise of eminent domain. So long as you are defending the current Israeli position on this, you are not only defending killing civilians needlessly, you are also defending the massive looting of justly owned property by Palestinians
I should think you right wingers would care about that, even if you don’t care about the loss of human life
God save me to think I considered myself a right winger for most of my life. You’ve all gone bonkers now
Its your history.
To my question of what special claim does Palestine have on the land, your answer is an unequivocal “because”
There have been a series of military attacks on Israel since the UN carved out a home for the few remaining after the Holocaust in the middle of the desert. Those wars were all won by Israel, yet they never claimed the spoils of their victory.
Israel has ceded land. For that consideration, the Palestinians have continued to attack the Jewish State. So much so, an Iron doom is required to Protect Israel from continued UNPROVOKED attacks.
Here in America, Universities have carefully created a generation of Anti Semites. The only appeasement these People accept is the elimination of an entire sect of people.
Do you enjoy your life? Well, how can you do anything when there is suffering in the world? And what is “the theft of Palestinian land?” Hebron, which had a Jewish community forever, is “Palestinian land?” What about land Jewish people bought?
Funny, maybe the Palestinian people wouldn’t be being starved (which is BS–there isn’t mass starvation there) if Hamas wouldn’t steal the food.
Gio is a nazi, it is that simple. Hey Gio, go to Gaza or any other Nazi supporting Arab land.
So refreshing when right wing extremists get to call left wingers “Nazis.” They tried it with calling black people racists. Next, they’ll call women misogynists, gay people homophobes and immigrants xenophobes. But, unfortunately, there’s no real way to get the right wing extremist stink off.
So refreshing when right wing . . .
What is so delicious about every one of your examples, is all of it has happened, except the antagonists are Blacks calling other Blacks, racist. Women calling other women misogynist. Gays hating on trans, lesbians hating on lesbians. Gays hating on cross dressers.
Face it. the most liberal, the FAR LEFT campuses of elite Universities are chanting for the annihilation of the entire Jewish People.
The annihilation of the entire Jewish People is being taught in the lecture halls of American Universities. Unnivesities that are controlled exclusively by extreme leftist radicals
President Joe Biden leading those Universities in their agenda to eliminate all Jews
Iowan2,
Those are very good points.
Are there “far right” Nazis, white supremacists?
Of course.
But as we all know, they are a very tiny fringe minority.
Especially when compared to the “far left,” as we are seeing on college campuses, in the streets. All calling for the death of Jews, “Death to America!” “intifada” and other forms of violence.
Here is some insight into their mentality, The Kids vs. the Empire https://www.thefp.com/p/peter-savodnik-the-kids-vs-the-empire
That explains 200+ years of acute trauma and poverty of the black community since slavery. It was just a tiny fringe minority of white people enslaving and discriminating against black people. That destruction of black businesses in the Tulsa race massacre, that was done by only one white guy. True fact.
half a million men died to end Slavery.
While idiot think that was the end, it was only a beginning. Changing the culture of a nation requires time as a critical element. Be the end of WWII the integration of Blacks into society was all but complete.
Then Democrats once again threw them into chains. Into the slavery of Government aide. That aide required a single head of household. 70% of black kids are in single parent homes.
Studies have shown Immigrant blacks actually out perform whites in income. There is no discrimination against Blacks. There is a problem with Native Blacks and their dependence on the Govt handouts, over the last 4 generations.
Iowan2,
Well said.
And it was white Democrats that owned black slaves. It was white Democrats who fought against the Civil Rights era. Then they just changed tactic as you point out by getting them dependent on Democrat handouts, that keeps them on the Democrat plantation.
GioCon, do you know who the Palestinians are? You don’t. Did you ever hear of Jordan? That was the other portion of the British Mandate, which was initially considered the homeland of the Jewish people who are indigenous to the area. The original Palestinian people, if you wish to use the term, were the Jews who lived there. Look at old newspapers after WW2.
It is best to keep one’s mouth shut when they know nothing of the subject matter. Ignoramuses don’t know that in 2005-2006, Israel left Gaza, part of its sovereign land, along with its settlers. For some reason, you don’t know that. Nor do you know that for those 75 years, Israel was willing to make peace with its neighbors at the expense of giving up part of their sovereign land. You don’t know that either. Why not? Can you guess why part of what you know of as the West Bank is called Judea? Probably not. Did you ever wonder why Jordon threw the “Palestinians” out? That is perhaps above your grade level.
S Meyer leave off with the Israeli propaganda. Norman Finkelstein is right. You people who only trust Jews should listen to him and learn and perhaps trust some of the very many Jewish dissidents like him that have laid out with clarity and accuracy the facts and legal principles which undermine the current Zionist stance. I say the current stance, since Zionism as a political movement was not always as bloodthirsty and unjust as it is now. It actually started with high ideals. well, as a goy you don’t want to hear from me anyhow so I ‘ll just leave it at that.
Norman Finkelstein is wrong in virtually every argument, if he provides facts and they are checked. Go ahead and provide facts instead of opinions, and then we can talk. One can always find a nutcase to take an idiotic position. Many people do so under anonymous names, but we are referring to Norman Finkelstein in this case.
If I remember correctly, Norman was fired from NYU, DePaul and Hunter College. Their reason for firing him was his pseudo-scholarship on the subject matter. He follows the likes of David Irving, who is a Holocaust denier. Along with Jews, Finkelstein hates America.
It is your right to support nonsense, but you won’t get away with it where intelligent people exist.
“that have laid out with clarity and accuracy the facts “
Why don’t you provide some facts?
Giocon- I know it did not start on 10/7. The Jews inhabited this area of the Levant since approx 1500 BC. Thats about 1600 years before the Roman’s renamed Judea into Syria and Palestine. It had been ruled by Egypt prior to Christ as well as Hitites , Canaan, Assyrians, and Persians, then Macedonians, then Greeks then the Roman Empire , then the eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine), then the Arabs moving up from Arabia after Mohammed, then Christian Kingdoms for about 200 yrs then the Mamluks , then the Ottoman Empire (which fell in 1918) replaced by the British Mandate under the League of Nations, then a General Assemby vote in the UN in 1948 that created Israel and Palestine whereupon the surrounding 5 Arab states of Lebanon, Transjordan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq attacked the Jewish part (who had accepted the general assembly vote) and we have been at it ever since. At No time was there a Palestinian nation. No attack on 10/7 then no war. Attack on 10/7 and you have full scale war. Wars have a tendency to spin out of control. And they degenerate rapidly. History is messy, wars are worse.
Michigan did not back down, but it also did not have the bravery to kick them out. It was disgraceful for Michigan to allow anti-semites to chant during the commencement. As for Columbia, even worse. These students saw their High School graduation cancelled due to covid, and now they don’t get their college graduation. Shame on everyone.
I am waiting to see how the University of Wisconsin-Madison handles it as I have a family member graduating. My expectation is that they will fall somewhere between the Michigan and Columbia on the backbone scale.
We need to call out out the National Guard to gun those protesters down. Clear and simple.
Columbia didn’t cancel graduation ceremonies. All they did was change it to having multiple smaller ceremonies at different locations around campus. Students AND their families preferred this option and it is better. It’s more personal and it doesn’t rob students of their graduation ceremony to celebrate with their families. From a safety standpoint and the fact that families also agree it’s a better way than no ceremony at all.
Cuz if there’s anyone you just love to your core, it’s Jews!
These “Activist” don’t get it, do They? The January 6th Capitol ‘incident’ was a Dress Rehearsal of surveillance technology, to test weaknesses and find improvements. It was; A Dry-Run, A Test-Run, A Shake-Down-Cruise. It’s bad enough Big Brother tracks you from the Doorbell to the Super Market, These Activist want to get their 15 minutes of Fame featured and stored on the Department of Homeland Security databases.
America is the Surveillance State. They’ll never learn.
He makes a point:
“Columbia stated that ‘holding a large commencement ceremony on our campus presented security concerns that unfortunately proved insurmountable…Like our students, we are deeply disappointed with this outcome.’”
If academics used words to express reality, rather than to obfuscate it, here’s what they would have said:
“We appeased bullies the first time. Then did so again, and again, and . . . Now our neighborhood’s too dangerous for the innocent.”
Imagine that.
“It is a profile of cowardice that will stain the record of Columbia for years to come.”
Stain already spreading:
“13 Federal Judges Say They Will No Longer Hire Law Clerks From Columbia University, Citing ‘Virulent Spread of Antisemitism’ and ‘Explosion of Student Disruptions’”
https://freebeacon.com/campus/13-federal-judges-say-they-will-no-longer-hire-law-clerks-from-columbia-university-citing-virulent-spread-of-antisemitism-and-explosion-of-student-disruptions/
This will undoubtedly do wonders for Columbia’s ability to recruit top students.
@Sam,
Why only Columbia? The conservative judges are going to refuse to hire Columbia grads because there was a protest at their school? These are judges that claim to respect viewpoint diversity and freedom of speech. They even make their own demands of schools. These are federal judges pledging to refuse to hire law clerks who graduated from Columbia because some chose to exercise their right to express their views and opinions through protest.
Here’s a question you should ponder about that. They are not going to hire ANY student that graduates from Columbia. How will they know who participated in the protests and who didn’t? They don’t. How do I know? Because in their letter they literally demanded the school identify those who participated and demanded the school punish those who did. That seems to be the underlying theme among critics of the protests. Punishment and retribution. These are federal judges who are supposed to be above that kind of thinking. Lots of schools that had protests also have graduate law students involved that these judges often hire. It’s such a petty move from a group of conservative judges and it’s impossible to determine who and who didn’t attend these protests unless they are snitched on by their schools at the behest of these judges. Do you really want judges to be this vindictive? It puts into question their ability to be fair and impartial. Two things they are expected to strive for. This is not a good example of it.
“Here’s a question you should ponder about that.”
I don’t need an Apologist and serial deceiver to tell me what to “ponder.”
But, anyway, nice deflection.
@sam,
No deflection. I’m pointing out a serious flaw on the judges threat to not hire anyone from Columbia. They are claiming they won’t hire anyone and they mean, anyone who graduates from Columbia regardless of whether they attended the protests or not. It’s pretty stupid for federal judges to single out Columbia when they will end up hiring from other schools that also held protests.
That does not portray these judges as fair and impartial. It’s that impulsive need to punish and seek retribution because some students chose to exercise their right to protest for a cause. It’s a stupid reason declare publicly why they won’t hire students from Columbia.
There are many places for them to choose from, new George. It is a simple way of sifting through applicants who may not be up to par. I feel for those who may have been influenced by certain ideologies, but this can help curb some of the issues we see on campus today. Look at the University of Florida, for instance. They hold the belief that universities are not daycare centers and have successfully addressed this issue. If you hold a different perspective, you may align with a group that may not be suitable for positions requiring a certain level of intellectual rigor.
George said: “They are not going to hire ANY student that graduates from Columbia. How will they know who participated in the protests and who didn’t? They don’t. How do I know? Because in their letter they literally demanded the school identify those who participated and demanded the school punish those who did. That seems to be the underlying theme among critics of the protests. Punishment and retribution.”
The simpler explanation is that the judges want to effectively weed bad apples from candidates for their staffs. Perfectly reasonable. If Columbia fails to comply with their identification request, it may well be that no Columbia grads are hired. Is the primary task of a professional school to educate students to suit the best available positions, or to be some kind of touchy-feely sounding board for current socio-political movements? Which task does Columbia seem to be failing to perform adequately? Is it equitable that, should the school decline to comply with the judges’ identification demands, some Columbia grads who did not participate in the demonstrations will be shortchanged on professional opportunities? Not entirely. On the gripping hand, perhaps those students and/or their parents should have done better research before selecting a school. This kind of anti-educational activity appears to be part of Columbia’s DNA.
Number 6,
Well said.
I can support the 1stA, and still not want to hire or associate with a anti-semite.
I think they are disgusting human beings, but I support their 1stA right to say all those disgusting things so I know exactly what kind of people they are.
@Number6,
It’s not the school or the students at issue. These are federal judges who are supposed to be fair and impartial. They are claiming to not hire anyone from Columbia only because a few students chose to protest. It seems like a vindictive take on the judges part.
It’s contrary to free speech principles and in their own letter they declare a respect for diversity of opinion and viewpoint diversity while mocking it at the same time with this declaration that they wont’t hire students because they participated in an exercise of free speech. This is about judges injecting themselves into the issue only to be vindictive. It’s not professional behavior expected of a federal judge. To make such a declaration is supposed to be beneath them. They are demanding Columbia identify any students who participated so they can be punished and be singled out for retribution so any firm or company doesn’t hire them. That’s not the job of a judge. It’s petty and beneath them, but these judges are demanding attention to their petty cause declaring very publicly that they won’t hire students from Columbia, but they will hire from other schools who also had protests on their campuses. It’s stupid and serves no purpose other than to impose punishment to those who chose to exercise their right to protest for a cause.
All good things must come to an end. This is the end of Columbia.
Good lord professor. It’s one thing to criticize Columbia’s choices, but making dishonest claims about the situation and mischaracterizing it for dramatic effect and manufactured outrage takes it a wee bit far.
First, Columbia didn’t cancel commencement. Falsely inferring that it is somehow a really bad thing because they “capitulated” to students demands is laughable. The real purpose of is genuinely a safety concern since the situation is still volatile and debate over the Israeli war has strong emotions on both sides. What Columbia did was the reasonable thing to do. Students will still get their commencement ceremonies at Columbia only these will be smaller and at different locations. What the professor is not telling you is that students AND parents, even those who were not part of the protests, all chose these smaller more personal commencement ceremonies. In fact most families and students preferred them to one big event. Students are also the school’s customers who are ok with these smaller commencement ceremonies. It is not going to rob them of their hard won achievement or detract from their experience as graduates. What is unfortunate is professor Turley exploiting this event to push a false narrative of capitulation and acquiescence over student demands because they chose to exercise their right to protest for a cause.
Turley as are most conservative critics of the protest are hell bent on exacting punishment and some sort of retribution for students who participated in the protests because, they dared to exercise their first amendment rights at an inconvenient time and place. That it was not at the professor’s or any of the conservative critics preferences. Then he writes this gem,
“ Columbia has been consistently ranked at the very bottom of schools for free speech due to its intolerance for opposing viewpoints and failure to protect a diversity of opinions on campus.”
Turley is showing an intolerance for an opposing view, the protests, and is critical of the school’s attempt to balance the diversity of opinions as best it can. Republican lawmakers are demanding military and police intervention because the schools are protecting what he claims the schools are not protecting, diversity of opinion. Instead he demands punishment and retribution for students who participated in the very things he claims to hold in high regard. Freedom of speech and assembly. He chafes at the fact that students were not practicing it the way he would have preferred. Bummer.
Students are paying customers of any school. If THEIR school is doing something or is involved in something they don’t agree they have every right to bring it up to school administrators and staff. They are the ones paying for their education and they are the reason any school exists. The students ARE the customers. If they choose to protest or hold an assembly to express their dissatisfaction it’s their right.
Schools that make deals with students and RESOLVE the issue peacefully and reaching compromise is the better outcome over punishment and retribution that solves nothing. The need to punish students for exercising their right to peaceably assemble and protest is a conservative need to control and satisfy authoritarian impulses because students are deemed, stupid, privileged, spoiled, woke, indoctrinated, or whatever poor excuse they comes up with. It is not good until they all acquiesce to their expectations. Others having the freedom to make choices they don’t agree with is intolerable and must be dealt with harshly and swiftly.
Excellent response! Bravo!
Hecklers Veto wins again, is that your argument? Bah.
That wasn’t a hecklers veto. None of the students have been robbed of their commencement ceremonies. The only thing that changed is the size and where they are held. Having smaller ceremonies at different locations around the school is the result of students and their families preferring them over one big event. It makes sense. The smaller ceremonies are more personal and shorter. They don’t detract from the student’s achievements and celebrating with family and friends.
Safety is important and these measures are a smart way to balance the needs of the students and maintain safety without the need for a massive police presence that will taint any ceremony. It seems the professor is annoyed that the school is being sensible about the situation and chose reason over impulse.
I object to the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israel, and the protests are legit even if they may go too far, but the hecker’s veto DEFINITELY won in this instance
Schools that make deals with students and RESOLVE the issue peacefully and reaching compromise is the better outcome over punishment and retribution that solves nothing
Plagerism. Pure and simple
You have changed a few words. But this is lifted from a Speech given by Neville Chamberlain.
No, it wasn’t lifted from anything. Cite the speech if you believe this was plagiarized.
If you are going to accuse any one of plagiarism you better be ready to prove it. Plagiarism is claiming as your own what someone else said literally word for word. You already admitted it’s not word for word. So it can’t be plagiarism.
George, Iowan was beautifully mocking you but you are to stupid to even understand the joke.
Iowan, thanks for the laugh!
@Hullbobby,
No, it was not a joke.
George, I’ve read a lot of Chamberlain. There is more than one speech, more than one letter. This is Classic Chamberlain.
Any lover of history, anyone that has dabbled in this history, would instantly recognize the words and message of Neville Chamberlain.
@Iowan2,
So you cannot produce the exact speech and you accuse me of plagiarism without showing which speech you are referring to. If you “instantly recognized the words” you should instantly be able to produce the speech you are referring word for word.
Bottom line. You made an accusation without proof and cannot prove it.
So what you’re saying is that the protestors wanted to improve the lives of Columbia students and their image of the administration by bringing an alternative graduation ceremony(ies) proposal?
You get you J-school degree there? That sweet sweet msnbcnnprnyt fame and fortune must be right around the corner for you if not already.
No, that’s not what I’m saying.
+100
Exposition (Grad Ceremony) vs. Demonstration (Protest) Both are optional and subordinate to what is Morally Correct for the safety of lives thereof.
Don’t loose sight of making ‘Morally Correct Decisions’ or War/Violence will break out.
welcome to Fascist Europe 1930’s
The ONLY way to stop this….to DEFUND the Democrats Machine
End Federal aid to colleges, cities, states and non-profits
FORCE local choices to HURT LOCAL areas!
On the surface, it may that there is little connection between the cowardice of Columbia and other schools and the ongoing prosecutions of Trump. But they are related. They are both forms of surrender to The Left Wing Mob and constitute corruption of Authority.
It’s a disgrace that we can’t let Trump break the law.
This is shameful! If the authorities had the spine, they could have made short work of the well funded activist mob. Their true colors are shining through.
These same self righteous m*r*ns closed down commencement for the country, destroyed businesses, closed schools,… I am sorry, but I don’t care, I even have a bit of schadenfreude
You should care! Your attitude is no different than those in school leadership. It is surrender of moral courage to stand up for our country and for our future. The ultimate goal of these mobs needs ‘I don’t care’ complicity to fuel their cause. Perhaps this why they have to destroy Trump. He cares!
Columbia Administration rewards the hateful, the intolerant, the criminal, and punishes those who want, and are paying for, an education. Absolutely disgusting. The president needs to go.
It’s a mixed bag. I don’t mind these freaks protesting the genocide that so many are ignoring (or actively lying about). Somebody needs to stop the carnage.
But if these protestors disrupt events paid for by these young people, that must stop.
How does one accomplish both?
It’s a mixed bag. I don’t mind these freaks protesting the genocide that so many are ignoring (or actively lying about). Somebody needs to stop the carnage.
The carnage of baking babies alive in kitchen ovens?
Do you know Palistine is still holding a baby hostage? A Baby.
Who’s responsible for carnage?
This would be very different if Palistine would have returned all the Hostages. Palistine refused.
Palistine declared war on Israel on Oct 7th.
This is what happens when one nation declares war on another Nation.
iowan, the whole Gaza population are essentially hostages. This is like when prisoners make a jailbreak and take guards hostage. It’s a role reversal. And anyways, however wrong it may be, it’s even more wrong to kill with intention or reckless disregard of noncombattants, like 30,000 plus civilians. That’s a genocide coming from the very people who never stop complaining about their own ethnic experience with genocide, as if it were the only one in history, and it stinks to heaven.
I attended neither my undergrad nor my graduate commencements, but that was my personal choice. Cancelling the whole thing because of criminals is insane. You don’t shut down your store because of someone may rob you. You prepare for them, imprison them, or, best case, shoot them.
Shoot everybody, me, you, puppies. It’s the only solution.
Well said
Serves ’em right! The students there bought this upon themselves, and their cowardly admin ought to be ashamed.
Columbia students need to sue the school. Hold them accountable where it really hurts. In their high endowments Columbia can still change its decision.
Why? The school is NOT cancelling commencement ceremonies. All they did was cancel one big ceremony for everyone and in its place hold smaller multiple ceremonies in different locations throughout campus. All students will still get to their graduation ceremony. They are just smaller and in different locations. Students and families preferred this option instead of an outright cancellation of all ceremonies.