When I was in college more than 50 years ago, liberal professors were often hardly much older than the students they were teaching. They hung around with students. They dressed like students. They talked like students. And many of them dated students.
Not much has changed in 50 years. And at the NYU protests in New York on Monday, the liberal professors acted like the overgrown teenagers they so wanted to be.
The most serious confrontations between police and protesters did not feature idealistic, earnest 19- and 20-year-olds, but rather 40- and 50-something faculty members who acted like a bunch of spoiled brats.
“The faculty were — from what I personally observed, and spoke to lieutenants and captains out there — the most aggressive towards the police,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry told Fox 5. “They would not move, they would not let go.”
Reliving the glories of their youth, no doubt. That and showing off for the kids, trying to be role models, and setting an example of lawbreaking.
“I think parents have an expectation that when they send their kids to college the faculty and their professors will be teaching and not protesting,” said Tarik Sheppard, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. “It was shocking to see the faculty out there.”
Note: Tuition is about $40,000 at NYU.
The two NYPD officials said that there were “professional agitators” in the crowd and speculated that someone was financing the protests, since tents at the various campus protests have looked the same. Many of the demonstrations have been organized by the group Students for Justice in Palestine, which has chapters throughout the country.
“Somebody is behind this and we are going to find out who it is,” Daughtry said.
NYPD said they cleared out the encampment at the request of university officials.
“At this point we consider all protesters occupying Gould Plaza to be trespassers,” read a Monday memo from the university to the NYPD, “and we would like the NYPD to clear the area and to take action to remove the protestors. In the event they refuse to leave, we request the NYPD take enforcement action accordingly up to and including arrest.”
Who are the “outside agitators”? Iran gives billions of dollars to Hamas, and it’s not much of a stretch to believe that some of that Iranian money is being used to roil U.S. campuses.
NYU closed access to Gould Plaza where the tent cities were being erected, but it did little good. More demonstrators broke through the barricades later in the day including many protesters that NYU says were not affiliated with the university.
“This development dramatically changed the situation,” NYU spokesman John Beckman said in a statement. “We witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community, and that demonstrated how quickly a demonstration can get out of control or people can get hurt.”
“We also learned that there were intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents reported,” he added.
The NYU campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors strongly denied there were any “antisemitic incidents” in an open letter.
“At no point were non-NYU people knowingly allowed to join the Plaza encampment, and at no time was anyone on the Plaza either violent or antisemitic in speech or behavior. There was NO incitement at all,” the group said in an open letter.
So all those Jewish students who reported being pushed, shoved, and screamed at by protesters using antisemitic slogans are, what, lying?
Momentum is building for these protests. Students across the country are seeing what’s happening, and their blood is being stirred. They all read about 1968 and how glorious it was to protest. Here’s their chance.
They may not know exactly what they’re protesting for, given their limited awareness and how easily they can be manipulated. But it sure looks like fun, doesn’t it?