What’s happening at Columbia?
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I watch these videos of these cosplay protestors and sincerely want to know if deep down they really know the futility of their actions and the consequences of their actions… I think they feel trapped to play the part and justify their actions. When they asked the cake eater above if she would do it again you could sense the hesitancy as logic set in for a brief moment before she continued on script.
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Mario Torres describes the experience of being on duty as protesters stormed the building in the early hours of the morning, breaking glass and barricading the entrances. “We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed by an angry mob with rope and duct tape and masks and gloves,” he said.
“They came from both sides of the staircases. They came through the elevators and they were just rushing. It was just like, they had a plan.” Mario said protesters with zip ties, duct tape, and masks “just multiplied and multiplied.”
At one point, he remembers “looking up and I noticed the cameras are covered.” It made him think: “This was definitely planned.”
Torres was trying to “protect the building” when he ended up in an altercation with Carlson: “He had a Columbia hoodie on, and I managed to rip that hoodie off of him and expose his face.” (Carlson was later charged with five felonies, including burglary and reckless endangerment.) “I was freaking out. At that point, I’m thinking about my family. How was I gonna get out? Through the window?”
Torres has not been to campus since the incident. He says he does not feel safe. “When it comes to the public safety, the workers’ safety, people don’t feel comfortable walking through a mob to punch in to get into campus. That’s crazy,” he said.
He added that he’s worried Columbia might take disciplinary action against him for speaking out. He worries about losing a job he loves. He worries about supporting his young family.
“Is Columbia going to retaliate and find a reason to fire me? Is someone going to come after me? So I’m taking a big risk doing this, but I think that they failed. They failed us. And I think that’s the bigger story. They failed us. They should have done more to protect us, and they didn’t.”
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These cosplayers are consuming the resource of incivility. They make civil situations uncivil. In the civilization economy, their incivility is a scarce resource to be consumed. They depend on the rest of the world to be more civil than they are. Otherwise the whole situation devolves to chaos, as both sides become uncivil. They can do these things on their civilized campuses where they're sure they'll be the only ones consuming the incivility resource. They can't do them in armed places with citizenry that really wouldn't mind just killing all of them for the inconvenience they cause. "Try that in a small town" springs to mind.
Education is extremely important.
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Similarly, consultant Warren Kinsella said: "At the firm I founded 18 years ago, and in the war rooms I've run for the past 31 years, I've employed hundreds of young people. I'll never again hire one from @Columbia."
I knew Warren Kinsella from grad school back in the early 1980s. He was in Poli Sci, active on the Students Union and president of the campus Liberal Party organisation. Big supporter then of John Turner. Has remained affiliated and a go to contractor with Liberal machine until the Trudeau era. Operates Daisy Consulting Group out of Toronto.
Never thought much of him. I do however agree with him on this issue.
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Education is extremely important.
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@Horace said in What’s happening at Columbia?:
I don't see how categorical denials of all students at an institution follows from a few students at that institution behaving badly.
I for one will never hire another Austrian.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in What’s happening at Columbia?:
13 federal judges say they will no longer hire clerks from Columbia Law School OR Columbia College after the university allowed an encampment on its lawn to spiral into a destructive occupation of a campus building.
Would be more impactful if it were Columbia grads. One wonders how many Columbia grads these guys have hired between them. (They’re all in Texas and most I checked are UT law school graduates)
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Should have been expelled. And anybody on student visas should have the visa revoked. Just sayin.
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@bachophile said in What’s happening at Columbia?:
Should have been expelled. And anybody on student visas should have the visa revoked. Just sayin.
I believe in mercy.
Suspension for two semesters. No public graduation for graduating seniors. Rescind any acceptance letters from Harvard or Columbia graduate schools for those involved. Reinstatement for those suspended is contingent upon attending a synagogue of their choice for 10 Shabbat services and a paper written on the Holocaust.
After reinstatement, students shall be on probation for one year. Subsequently, any violation of probation shall result in irrevocable expulsion without appeal.
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@bachophile said in What’s happening at Columbia?:
Should have been expelled. And anybody on student visas should have the visa revoked. Just sayin.
I concur.
Am not the least merciful in such instances as these. Just sayin.
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
