College Turmoil

[temporal1]

i admit, i’m encouraged that “college turmoil” resulting from the Hamas terrorist attack, has quickly focused on LEADERS+POLICIES, who RARELY are in THE HOT SEAT. Who RARELY suffer consequences for poor decisions.

This, due to unhappy WEALTHY donors flexing muscle.

The masses can fight+argue+die for decades without results to compare. The elite go unscathed.

It’s not a bad thing for the masses to glimpse the reality of BIG MONEY influence in colleges.

Page 1:

Maybe the 100 mill is talking.

Money talks? Your kidding me!

[Ken]

Would any large university in the country allow students or non-students to utilize their campus (however open it may be) to chant similarly hateful things about black people? What do you think presidents Gay or Magill would say and do if a bunch of local yocals started chanting about black people being guilty of genocide?

You mean like this which happened on the campus of University of Virginia a couple of years ago?

[HondurasKeiser]

Would any large university in the country allow students or non-students to utilize their campus (however open it may be) to chant similarly hateful things about black people? What do you think presidents Gay or Magill would say and do if a bunch of local yocals started chanting about black people being guilty of genocide?

You mean like this which happened on the campus of University of Virginia a couple of years ago?

And how did the campus leadership respond?

[HondurasKeiser]

In the same vain was the Unite the Right event sponsored by any UVA student groups? Did any UVA professors speak glowingly of the event?

[HondurasKeiser]

One final note: UVA didn’t allow Unite the Right to utilize their campus; it was the city of Charlotte that granted the permit. The protestors took it upon themselves to march to the campus. UVA cannot be held responsible as they weren’t prepared for it. The same cannot be said for the countless colleges that have allowed repeated antisemitic protests to occur for the past 2 months.

[Ken]

One final note: UVA didn’t allow Unite the Right to utilize their campus; it was the city of Charlotte that granted the permit. The protestors took it upon themselves to march to the campus. UVA cannot be held responsible as they weren’t prepared for it. The same cannot be said for the countless colleges that have allowed repeated antisemitic protests to occur for the past 2 months.

So do you think the city was wrong in granting a permit?

Should the police have shut down the protest and arrested those involved?

Based ONLY on their message?

[Judas Maccabeus]

My memory goes back to the antiwar protests when I was in college.................

[temporal1]

One final note:
UVA didn’t allow Unite the Right to utilize their campus; it was the city of Charlotte that granted the permit.

The protestors took it upon themselves to march to the campus.
UVA cannot be held responsible as they weren’t prepared for it.

The same cannot be said for the countless colleges that have allowed repeated antisemitic protests to occur for the past 2 months.

So do you think the city was wrong in granting a permit?
Should the police have shut down the protest and arrested those involved?
Based ONLY on their message?

Ben Shapiro addressed this regarding Skokie IL versus college campuses.
In addition to HK’s points, he explains how they’re not the same. i’ll try to locate it.

[HondurasKeiser]

One final note: UVA didn’t allow Unite the Right to utilize their campus; it was the city of Charlotte that granted the permit. The protestors took it upon themselves to march to the campus. UVA cannot be held responsible as they weren’t prepared for it. The same cannot be said for the countless colleges that have allowed repeated antisemitic protests to occur for the past 2 months.

So do you think the city was wrong in granting a permit?

Should the police have shut down the protest and arrested those involved?

Based ONLY on their message?

I should be clear that I am far from a free-speech absolutist and, as I said in a post somewhere in reply to Josh, think such a stance is immorality posing as disinterested neutrality. That seems like a conversation for another day though.

To your specific question about the city: I agree with the then-mayor of the city, Mike Signer who stated that the Unite the Right march was "a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism and intolerance..." but that "Everyone has a right under the First Amendment to express their opinion peaceably...."

Would I, were I mayor, grant the permit? Yes.

Mr. Signer, like T1 and Ben Shapiro, seems to make a distinction between a city granting a permit and using a university's campus for such hateful activities. "...as a UVA faculty member and alumnus, I am beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable display of visual intimidation on a college campus."

I agree with you Ken, that protests (even ugly ones) are and part-and-parcel of university life. I think it is incumbent upon a university to err on the side of free speech inasmuch as open inquiry and free expression are the bedrock principles of the very idea of the university. Nevertheless, while it should err on the side of free speech, it's not the only value to consider and inasmuch as most universities are also close-knit, lived-in communities, it has to consider the effects of truly noxious and evil sentiments on the social fabric of their communities. I think what we've been seeing these past 2 months on campuses and in larger cities is something beyond a simple protest; it's tipped over into intimidation and harassment and threats of violence. When Jewish students and teachers have to hide from mobs, when the lighting of Menorahs are cancelled out of an "abundance of caution" for the lives of Jewish folk, when Jews are advised to stay indoors on certain days for their own safety; I think things have moved beyond the exercise of free speech and into something far more sinister. Politicians are gonna politic and of course they're gonna "never gonna let a good crisis go to waste" - the issue though is not being invented by Republicans, and that is where I think your partisan blinders are keeping you from evaluating this situation objectively. As it is, the now-defenestrated President Magill agrees that something is amiss:

[HondurasKeiser]

For a perspective different from mine and perhaps closer to Ken's, Heather MacDonald over at City Journal has a well-reasoned essay.