It’s official: At Columbia University, if you’re a left-winger, you can basically attack a College Republican speaker and receive only the slightest of punishments. Here’s that notorious Minuteman incident. Here’s Columbia response, according to IHE: “On Monday, at least three students charged with violations of the university’s rules of conduct were notified that decisions had been handed down. So far, the disciplinary actions are as lenient as university rules allow … The sanctions are classified as ‘disciplinary warnings’ that will remain on the students’ transcripts until Dec. 31, 2008. There are no actual punishments associated with the warnings.”
Lest we forget, here’s what tough talkin’ Columbia prez Lee Bollinger said in response to the incident: “This is not complicated: Students and faculty have rights to invite speakers to the campus. Others have rights to hear them. Those who wish to protest have rights to do so. No one, however, shall have the right or the power to use the cover of protest to silence speakers. This is a sacrosanct and inviolable principle.”
And if you violate this “sacrosanct and inviolable principle,” you’ll get a warning!