Again and again, Columbia has shown a willingness to throw students, faculty, free speech, and academic freedom under the bus in acquiescence to a right-wing, pro-Israel narrative that treats support for Palestinians as an affront to Jewish safety.
For all Columbia’s appeasement, President Donald Trump’s Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced last week that it would cancel $400 million in federal grants and contracts to the university.
There is no appeasing a political force like the Trumpian right, intent on a program of destruction. And there is no appeasing a nationalist Zionist worldview that, defying reason, sees antisemitism in every call for Palestinian freedom. Columbia is proof of the failure of caving in; the administration has offered up a platter of repression for more than a year and is still slated to lose $400 million.
Yeah, Trump has been known to do that. Columbia got what they asked for.
Anyone who capitulates and thinks they’re saving themselves will get the same treatment.
You’re showing a prolific abuser that you are weak and willing to submit, and an abuser will take advantage of that weakness. They will never turn around and treat you better because you complied.
The abuse is the point. Trump will always find an excuse.
In fact, the only thing that works is refusing to be bullied. Look at the tariffs.
In my own personal experience of bullying, the only thing that worked was becoming stronger and smarter than the bullies, and then hurting them badly. Peace through being a hard target. I think it’s a principle that applies on the larger political scale, too. Those people don’t care about sweet reason. The only thing that will make them stop is the use of power.