Looks like Columbia University has conceded a big event to the radical pro-Hamas protesters.
After weeks of turmoil and finally calling in the police to clear out the encampment and Hamilton Hall which the activists broke into and occupied, Columbia is calling off the university-wide commencement ceremony that was scheduled for May 15. It’s usually held on the lawn where the radical activists had been encamped.
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Instead, the university is opting for “smaller-scale, school-based celebrations.”
“We have decided to make the centerpiece of our commencement activities our class days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” the school said in an announcement.
The pared ceremonies will also no longer be held on Columbia’s iconic South Lawn — where hundreds of protesters were arrested for refusing to leave a massive tent encampment.
The school-based ceremonies are where the students are recognized individually, so the school said those were more important to the students and their families. Some of those ceremonies have been relocated to Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex, others to separate locations.
It may be true the smaller ceremonies are the more meaningful, but it’s also conceding and giving the radical activists a victory by denying the other students an element of their graduation that they earned. Imagine spending all that money on an Ivy League school, then because of the radicals you have to learn virtually, then this. So once again, the bad actors get their way and disrupt things
The school said they were considering some “festive event” instead for the students on May 15. You mean kind of like…a graduation? And how would that be different and avoid being disrupted by these characters? And if you were to hold that, then why not the regular graduation? Some other commencements at other schools have been disrupted by these characters, like at the University of Michigan, where the police carted them out, and the ceremony continued. Mayor Eric Adams had said he would have police to protect graduations, but Columbia apparently decided they didn’t want to go that route.
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Columbia cancels May 15 graduation ceremony pic.twitter.com/6PEvyYsNDb
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 6, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) blasted the Columbia president for this decision and called for her to be removed.
“President Shafik and Columbia University administrators have displayed a shocking unwillingness to control their campus. They’ve allowed outside agitators and terrorist-sympathizing students and faculty to rewrite campus rules and spew vile, anti-Jewish aggression. Now, thousands of students who’ve worked hard to achieve their degrees will not get the recognition they deserve,” Johnson said.
“Because it is abundantly clear that President Shafik would rather cede control to Hamas supporters than restore order, Columbia’s Board of Trustees should immediately remove her and appoint a new president who will. Our once great universities desperately need strong moral leadership, now more than ever,” he added.
People busted the University for their weakness.
Columbia costs $90k a year. $360k for a bachelor’s degree & you can’t attend a graduation ceremony because the university is such a feckless black hole of leadership. This is not elite. https://t.co/NNygAif1H7
— Brian Stewart (@BrianStewartOH) May 6, 2024
Available for rent: Columbia graduation bleachers. No longer needed. pic.twitter.com/8QDWcBJrRy
— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) May 6, 2024
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