Columbia has fallen - opinion
Columbia has fallen. The university administration, its hand forced by the faculty, has made repeated announcements that it no longer plans to evacuate the protest encampment like other colleges have done. The NYPD buses that waited nearby for a week gave up on giving the trespassing students a ride to the precinct.
This means that at best, the negotiations will stay at an impasse. The occupation of South-West Lawn by the encampment is now a fixture of campus. It is the new normal.
For most Israeli and Jewish faculty, students, and staff, this self-ruling enclave, at the very center of campus is practically out of bounds. Upholding it relies on the high visibility and hands-on participation of an extreme minority of faculty members, some of whom physically stand guard at the encampment entrance.
More importantly, it leans on the more distant support of a super-majority of the faculty, as evidenced by an 80% vote in the University Senate rebuking President Shafik and her administration for countering the most egregious violations of protest policy by recruiting outside help in activities beyond the capability and authority of campus Public Safety Officers.
