OCEANIA HAS NEVER BEEN AT WAR WITH ISRAEL: Pro-Hamas Protesters Seek Amnesty, Pardons to Protect Careers.
Maryam Alwan figured the worst was over after New York City police in riot gear arrested her and other protesters on the Columbia University campus, loaded them onto buses and held them in custody for hours.
But the next evening, the college junior received an email from the university. Alwan and other students were being suspended after their arrests at the “ Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” a tactic colleges across the country have deployed to calm growing campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
The students’ plight has become a central part of protests, with students and a growing number of faculty demanding their amnesty. At issue is whether universities and law enforcement will clear the charges and withhold other consequences, or whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students into their adult lives.
As noted above, the students are fearful that their arrest records and suspensions will “follow them into their adult lives.” Based on their recent actions, I realize that we’re not dealing with the fastest set of tractors on the farm here, but I have a news flash for these rioters. Nearly every one of you is at least 18 years old and some of the juniors and seniors are in their twenties. You are already in your “adult life,” despite the fact that you’re not acting in a very mature fashion.
In 1993, at a Cato Institute dinner, P.J. O’Rourke famously said, “There’s only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.”
Why aren’t today’s college protestors willing to live the consequences of their actions? It’s almost as if they’re still in the Marlon Brando, “What are you rebelling against? Whaddya got?” Jurassic school of reactionary protests, and don’t actually believe in the cause du jour.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): This is what they’re worried about: Dox ’em! Let’s make the Ivy kids have to choose between their support for baby beheaders and those cushy jobs after graduation. Big business is ready to withdraw the job offers; all they need are the names…
The 1968 Columbia protesters asked for, and got, amnesty, as I recall. It set a bad precedent.
Related: Education Apocalypse Now?