Columbia Law Students 'Traumatized' by Police Response to Protests

Demanding that finals be canceled because they chose to protest, how utterly clueless are the youth of our country?

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

I don’t want to make this one of those generational rants where the “old man” — the old man in this story is supposedly me — talks about the “kids” and how they don’t understand anything. I remember hearing the WWII vets in my youth talking about how “kids these days have it so easy.” We did, and they had it easy, too, in comparison. So, this is not about having it easy or not easy.

It’s about dealing with reality and the unexpected, un-pre-programmed bends and curves embedded in reality. By the mere nature of it, conflict is one of those sweeping bends that often lie just ahead of us in life. Many of today’s youth (let’s say between 15 and 30) are not well practiced in dealing with the unregulated, unpredictable ups-and-downs of people-to-people, in-your-face situations that occur daily. 

I wrote about sitting in a cafe in Porto last year when a 20-something traveling American student struck up a conversation with me. We got to Biden, and she made a comment that was one she expected, with which I would agree. I was supposed to roll my eyes, nod my head, and say something like, “Right?” I didn’t, though. I politely said, “Actually, I don’t agree with that,” and explained my thoughts. Within moments, she was gone, clearly “frightened” that I had dared not to agree. I am not scary, but I come off as nice and easy-going (if they only knew, though!). She knew I was sitting there waiting for my wife and son. I was stunned at how, within a matter of a few minutes, she had made me out to be an on-the-lamb serial killer. 

The protestors at Columbia University are kind of acting the way that young woman did when I dared not to agree with her. 

The Columbia Law Review’s student editorial board is calling on the school to suspend its exams and pass all students following the police operation that shut down the anti-Israel camp on campus, the New York Post reports. In a letter, the student editors said the incident has profoundly impacted the entire student body.

The letter, written shortly after the NYPD removed protesters from Hamilton Hall, suggested that the school should consider giving students a simple pass or fail grade due to their emotional state following the incident (Entitled Brats).

The students, as you may know, had installed tents on the lawn at the Morningside Campus at Columbia, creating an oasis of sorts for free speech. I support this right, and I have expressed my disbelief — disgust even — at how quickly many were wont to call any protests questioning the actions of Israel in Gaza as being “antisemitic.” 

There was one professor at Columbia’s business school who became the spokesperson for the Israeli crimes being committed in Gaza. He regularly appeared on the local news — and became a favorite of the Murdoch-owned publications — and he ranted and raved about the students being “extremists” and “terrorists.” In the background of these interviews with this professor, the viewer could see those extremist students sitting around talking. 

Some violence and property damage, however, did eventually occur, and the police came in and forcibly removed the students. In the same way that the protests could have resolved themselves peacefully, so too they could have ended in the way they did. Such is the risk of protesting, and so, when you go into these things, you have to be ready mentally, physically, and psychologically for anything.

It seems that because these kids have been coddled — there, I said it! — and “protected” for so long when a non-virtual situation could not be micro-managed by an array of emoticons, ghosting, or virtual blocks, the students faded like contrails in the evening sky. 

Now, the editorial board for the Columbia Law School newspaper has found a new purpose. “Woe is us. We were offended, scared, and traumatized. We can’t possibly be expected now to study…can we?”

In the letter posted by Above The Law, the editors highlighted the impact of the previous night’s events, stating, “The violence we witnessed last night has irrevocably shaken many of us on the Review. We know this to be the same for a majority of our classmates. Videos have circulated of police clad in riot gear mocking and brutalizing our students. The events of last night left us, and many of our peers, unable to focus and highly emotional during this tumultuous time (Entitled Brats).”

No, sorry, kids, you can and will take your tests.

It pains me that my feelings over those align with the shitheads on the right, but in a way, they do. These students, if they had spent any of their lives not embedded from morning to night in a virtual cocoon, would know that not everyone wants to give them a hug and tell them how unique they are — “Oh my, Johnny, that is the most genius BM (bowel movement) I have ever seen.” They protested they were warned, and right or wrong, the Columbia administration chose to use the police to remove them. This is one of those classic “shit happens” moments that leave the woefully clueless unprepared for life. 

Over at Fox and other dummy news organizations, however, this has become another one of those “us versus them” moments. The students who didn’t protest are being portrayed as “patriots,” and there is even a flag of a bunch of white boys — who else? — touching the flag. This is a classic WTF moment, and it also demonstrates how woefully clueless, if not ignorant, those future MAGidiots are. 

This moment had nothing to do with patriotism, Trump, Biden, or any of the other issues that percolate our coffee these days. This was a legitimate protest against the crimes of Israeli apartheid. The protest was ended by the police. This happens.

Now, put on your Palestinian scarves, grab your books, and head down to 112th Street across from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and enter the Hungarian pastry shop. Get a bowl of coffee and crack those books, kids!

I shouldn’t have to remind you that this education costs a lot of money, and you will be paying for it for decades, so don’t waste your time feeling sorry for yourselves. Hit the books!