Asaf Romirowsky
The Hill, Aug. 30, 2024
“Plainly put, Columbia did nothing to stop the riots in the first place. And once the rioters had been arrested and charged, it was quick to let them off with a just slap on the wrist.”
It’s late August. For those of us in higher education, this means getting ready for a new academic year. Sadly, it seems that for Jewish students and professors, the fall semester brings with it one more daunting challenge: the return of the Tentifada, the onslaught of anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian protests that erupted on campuses nationwide last year.
Proof points abound.
For one thing, the tents are back. Earlier this summer, as Columbia University, having barely recovered from having to cancel its main commencement ceremony because of concerns that the festivities would be disrupted, once again saw its lawn taken over by a self-described “autonomous group of Palestinian students.”
You would expect Columbia’s administration to learn from past mistakes and keep the situation from getting out of hand. You would expect them to heed Mayor Eric Adams’s wise advice and practice a zero-tolerance policy to those keen on disrupting university life and claiming university spaces as their own. But this is academia we’re talking about. They never learn, and they certainly haven’t learned anything when it comes to keeping Jews safe.
Instead, as House Education and Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) revealed in a scorching report earlier this month, Columbia has done exactly nothing to make sure the worst of the lawless protesters in its midst were punished. …SOURCE