I want to note a few reports on the campus scene. Attention must be paid. The scene should not be unseen.
I have been asking who is behind the kill the Jews crowd on campus. Park MacDougald takes a comprehensive look in his May 6 Tablet column “The People Setting America on Fire.” It is the best effort yet to turn over the rocks and look underneath. Park, by the way, is the son of our old Rathergate friend Harry MacDougald. Harry is the Atlanta attorney now representing Jeffrey Clark in the “conspiracy so immense” case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
At the Free Press Francesca Block interviews two more Columbia custodians who have fought on the front line: “I Could Have Been Killed in There.” Like Mario Torres, they are so much better than the pathetic institution they serve.
At his personal site Jonathan Turley comments on Columbia’s cancellation of commencement: “Columbia caves.”
How goes it at Professor Turley’s academic home at George Washington University? Around 3:00 a.m. this morning, D.C. police began clearing the encampment and making arrests at GWU. The D.C. police department said in a statement that “a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest” led to the police action. Today’s congressional oversight hearing likely played a role in forcing D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s hand. Marc Rod reports for Jewish Insider in “House turns its eyes toward George Washington University encampment, K-12 antisemitism.”
The Washington Free Beacon has kept a close eye on the eruption of pro-Hamas/anti-Israel action on campus. Today Jessica Costescu reports “At MIT, Administrators Allow Unlawful Encampment To Displace Lawful Israeli Independence Day Event.” Subhead: “President Kornbluth assured us … that the encampment would be removed in time for our Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration,’ letter from Jewish group says.” Jessica reported earlier this week “Columbia Law School Students Send Menacing Email to Jewish Classmates: ‘You Threaten Everyone’s Safety.'”
Yesterday the Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium reported “Middlebury Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza While Staying Mum on Hostages and Hamas.” The Free Beacon’s Andrew Stiles adds a humorous sidebar: “Idiots Against Israel: These Student Protesters Misspelled ‘Palestine.'”
The University of Minnesota entered into an agreement with the pro-Hamas crowd in order to induce them to pack up their Gaza Solidarity Encampment. University of Minnesota interim president Jeff Ettinger has posted his related message to the community. One prong of the agreement required disclosure of university investments in Israel. The Star Tribune reports that the university has now “disclosed about $5 million in investments tied to companies based in Israel or defense contractors based in the United States…” Speaking as a law school alumnus and Minnesota taxpayer, I would prefer a no-negotiation with terrorist supporters policy.
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby adds a then-and-now historical footnote: “When the Ivy League had no problem with Nazis.” Jeff’s father is a Holocaust survivor to whom Jeff paid moving tribute in his 2000 American Enterprise column “My hero, my father.”
