Hillary Clinton Disrupted at Columbia

Columbia University had yet another embarrassing incident Friday as Hillary Clinton arrived to give a speech on something or other. If you are wondering how much money she was paid for this latest gig, I don't know. As she began speaking, the little rascals from the pro-Hamas movement began to shout and disrupt her until they were escorted from the room.

Make no mistake: I am no member of Hillary Clinton's fan club, but I do defend her right to speak even if she charges hundreds of thousands of dollars for it. It may be tempting to chuckle and feel good about the Empress Dowager getting heckled, but I am consistent in defending the right of speech for those I disagree with.

There are a lot of obnoxious voices in American academia today, and not all of them are students. Few are as annoying and obnoxious as the pro-Palestinian/pro-Hamas knuckleheads of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and their like-minded activists. (Whether SJP was involved in this latest incident, I do not know.)

SJP and their allies are rarely if ever disrupted when they put on their speaking events, but disruption is the standard practice for those who advocate for the Palestinians against Israel. I condemn what happened to Clinton Friday just as I have condemned these clowns when they disrupt speakers with whom I agree with. When I attend a speaking event of the other side, I listen quietly, often videotape, and more often than not, participate in the q and that usually follows.  My questions or comments are critical, but I would never try to take away a person's right to speak. It is my conviction that these clowns are incapable of formulating a well-thought-out question in opposition to the speaker's views. So they disrupt. They also disrupt because they do not believe in freedom of speech for those whom they disagree with. 

Columbia, like far too many American universities, has a problem. Disruption is not supposed to be what a university stands for-by their own definition. They are supposed to stand for free and open exchange of views on a wide spectrum of topics. Yet, today, our universities are marked by the type of displays seen yesterday at Columbia. Usually, it is when pro-Israel, pro-American, or pro-conservative speakers are involved, however infrequently they are featured. In this case, it was Hillary Clinton. We conservatives should not make an exception for her. 

As for those who disrupted Clinton, if they were Columbia students, they should be expelled. If they were Columbia professors, they should be fired. Not because Hillary Clinton was their target. It is because they do not respect free speech and civilized behavior.