As I write, a little before 3 pm eastern time, it appears the letter from Columbia University’s leadership calling for a peaceful resolution of the situation, released on Friday, that Scott posted this morning is, to borrow the legendary phrase of Ron Ziegler, “inoperative.”
That letter represented a de facto capitulation, and was, as Scott notes, playing for time, hoping the end of the school year would yield a dissolution of the encampments and protests. I suspect some trustees and/or powerful donors intervened over the weekend to say this pusillanimous stance was inadequate. This morning Columbia announced a 2 pm eastern deadline for the protest encampments to be removed. Of course this didn’t happen, and police are on the scene. (The notice says participating students will be suspended and/or evicted from student housing if they persist. Likely a hollow threat.)
A portion of Columbia’s faculty are interposing themselves between the police and the protestors to prevent police from removing the encampment:
Unbelievable. Columbia faculty lock arms to prevent police from clearing the encampment. Why do they still have jobs? pic.twitter.com/XrKlNCOx3q
— Ian Miles Cheong (@ianmiles) April 29, 2024
Question: Why can’t a university be like Google? As you may have heard, Google has fired more than 40 employees who conducted pro-Hamas protests on Google company property. Columbia ought to emulate this practice. Surely impeding law enforcement activity and participating in the disruption of campus life—not to mention the deliberate intimidation of Jewish students—is ample grounds for stripping faculty of their tenure protections and firing them en masse.
In the “we can only hope” department:
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine:
“Columbia will burn.” pic.twitter.com/pDb2Jv7Xq9
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) April 29, 2024
As I mentioned over the weekend, if protestors burned Columbia to the ground it would be doing our civilization a great favor, even if not their intent.
Stay tuned for updates. . .
UPDATE 1: It appears that DC Democrats are starting to worry about the campus scene, and have turned up the heat. Axios reports:
Scoop: Democrats turn up the heat on Columbia University
Columbia University’s board is facing new pressure from a group of House Democrats to “act decisively” and end an ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on its campus or resign, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Calls for Columbia officials to resign have largely been confined to the GOP, making this a major escalation in Democrats’ rhetoric on the high-profile demonstration.
Driving the news: In a letter to the university’s board of trustees, 21 House Democrats wrote of their “disappointment that, despite promises to do so, Columbia University has not yet disbanded the unauthorized and impermissible encampment of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish activists on campus.”
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The group, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) called to “disband the encampment, and ensure the safety and security of all of its students.”
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“If any Trustees are unwilling to do this, they should resign so that they can be replaced by individuals who will uphold the University’s legal obligations under Title VI,” the lawmakers added.
UPDATE 2—Meanwhile, today at Indiana University:
https://twitter.com/AlexPer51573831/status/1784942468749775050
UPDATE 3 (4:43 pm Pacific time)—Apparently some students are being arrested and suspended:
