Tel-Chai Nation: Brawl at Columbia U.

Looks like Columbia U is still in reality a place that should be left deserted. A member of the Minutemen project wanted to give a speech there and was disrupted by a mob of stupid student saboteurs (H/T: Michelle Malkin):

STUDENTS WITH A BIG YELLOW SIGN JUST CAME ONTO THE STAGE. The sign says, "There are no illegals." Students rise en masse from the audience and rush the stage. The Minuteman and the students engaged in a tug of war with the banner. More people rush the stage, prompting a fist-fight. One female student is kicked in the head. A guy in a pony tail (definitely not a student) rushes the stage and fights with students (several witnesses saw him kick a student) and then banded together with the Minuteman to shout the pledge of allegiance as the rumble spun out of hand, "One nation! Under God! Indivisible!"

There was at least two minutes of chaos between students, other students and the Minutemen. Bwog took cover.

security Update: 9:01 pm: Security comes out, now the curtain is down. Students are still chanting, now everyone's filing out.

Update: 9:15 pm: Students outside shouting, "They say, 'get bent,' we say, 'let's fight!'"

Update: 9:22 pm: A Bwog correspondent calls in a tip. A student defending the Minuteman right outside the gates on 115th was encircled by a group of protesters after a heated personal fight with just one of the protesters. The protesters then shouted, "Racist, go home!" Security showed up, and they started breaking up. Student last seen laughing on phone with friends. A mosh pit of triumphal students and community members dance and chant, "Asian, Black, Brown and White, we smashed the Minutemen tonight!"

Yuck. I think every student who took part in that should be banned from every shopping mall, resturant, grocery store, or let's just say that they should be distanced from contact with the public.

Worst: as the New York Sun found out, these thugs held up a banner with the following:

Having wreaked havoc onstage, the students unrolled a banner that read, in both Arabic and English, "No one is ever illegal." As security guards closed the curtains and began escorting people from the auditorium, the students jumped from the stage, pumping their fists, chanting victoriously, "Si se pudo, si se pudo," Spanish for "Yes we could!"

One can only wonder what their next destination is - to become terrorists as well?

You can contact the president of the university to complain, but I think it's better not to waste time on their campus at all.

Update: here's another report on an earlier case. As the ZOA reports:

A Columbia University ad-hoc faculty committee charged with investigating complaints of Israel bashing, anti-Semitism, and intimidation of pro-Israel students by professors, reported today that it found “no evidence of any statements made by the faculty that could be construed as anti-Semitic” and actually criticized pro-Israel students for disrupting lectures on Middle East studies and spying on faculty members.

The committee investigating the UN did something almost similar recently, when they said that Kofi Annan himself wasn't guilty of any wrongdoing. In the case of Columbia, it's the same disappointing turnout.

Columbia University certainly isn't someplace where I'd like to study, after reading these articles here. From the Jerusalem Post:

The pedagogical abuse of Jewish students was brought to the attention of the general public last October when the Boston-based pro-Israel group, The David Project, which was set up to combat anti-Israel propaganda at US university campuses, produced a short documentary on the issue. Columbia students interviewed in the film recounted incidents where they had been publicly humiliated by these professors when they dared to question their instructors' mendacious assaults against Israel and support for Palestinian terrorists.

In the wake of the public maelstrom, and consequent inquiries by alumni donors, Columbia president Lee Bollinger appointed an ad-hoc committee of five faculty members last December to look into the complaints of abuse. From the committee's membership it was immediately clear that its report would be a whitewash of the entire situation. Two of the members had signed a petition calling for the university to divest its holdings in companies that sell military equipment to Israel. Another committee member was the doctoral adviser for one of the professors under investigation. American Jewish leaders as well as the students who complained of professorial abuse immediately launched an outcry denouncing Bollinger's committee.

Poor cowardly administrators. They just cannot bring themselves to be honest about the trouble they're causing. I would strongly recommend to anyone who's been wasting their time studying there to quit their faculty ASAP.

Here's another article from the NY Post's editorial section on the case. And wow, look what Bollinger's gang of thugs tried to do:

The school further harmed its credibility when it sought to control press coverage of the report by leaking it to a sympathetic New York Times.

By one account, Columbia gave the Times access to the document in return for a promise to not talk to the students who brought the complaints in the first place. (Sure enough, the Times' first story on the report contained no quotes from the students.)

But, again, the committee's ultimate direction was obvious from the start. Indeed, the conflicts of interest among its members were downright laughable: At least two had signed a petition calling for divestment from Israel, another had written that Israel is to blame for global anti-Semitism and yet another was the thesis adviser of one of the accused professors.

So much for balance.