Columbia University has suspended 65 students so far after 80 arrests were made (interestingly, 61 of them females) following the takeover of the library by pro-Palestinian radicals who passed out pamphlets glorifying an alleged terrorist suspected of planning attacks in Israel. In addition, the school has barred an unspecified number of alumni and 33 others from affiliated institutions from the campus. And Homeland Security has requested the names and fingerprints of those arrested to check their visa status.
Before anyone starts defending these people as peaceful protesters simply exercising their First Amendment rights: They illegally occupied the building and prevented other students from being able to study for their finals. And Guy Benson has a primer on the organization behind much of the anti-Israel radicalism on campus, “Students for Justice in Palestine.” He says they’ve made it crystal clear that they are a “bona fide, pro-terrorism hate group,” and as the president of the SJP chapter at Temple University put it, in his own words: “It is our job to destroy imperialism, destroy the United States, and destroy capitalism. We will do it by organizing that actively undermines and destabilizes the legitimacy and the power of [the United States] and the power and legitimacy of capitalism.”
On a related note, a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 59% of Palestinians in the West Bank “still think Hamas’ made the ‘correct decision’ to torture, rape, burn alive, murder, and kidnap hundreds of hostages — even including children.”
Anyone still think DHS is being too harsh in asking for those names and fingerprints?
Many people wonder how the left that used to pride itself on being tolerant and peaceful has become aligned with so many violent anti-Semites and others who think violence is justified against political opponents. One clue might be found in a new study by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE.)
FIRE’s 2024 survey of college students found that fewer than 33% of students majoring in STEM fields, social sciences, and the humanities believe that violence is acceptable to shut down speech. However, 52% of Ethnic, Gender, and Area studies (focusing on particular regions or cultures) majors believe that violence is acceptable.
Duke University Prof. Timur Kuran theorizes that the cause “goes both ways.” Students already inclined to hate other identity groups flock to those fields. And students who take those majors for other reasons, like the low workload, get radicalized by the activists who teach them.
Our big question is, “Since we know that these fields promote intolerance and division and turn out violence-prone radicals with useless degrees, why do we still have them in our universities?”
