During my time at Columbia, I would generally enter the gates at 116th and walk to the Engineering corner via college walk. Occasionally, if there was an anti-

During my time at Columbia, I would generally enter the gates at 116th and walk to the Engineering corner via college walk. Occasionally, if there was an anti-israel protest going on, the simple fact that I wear a kippa (skullcap, i.e. obviously jewish) would make me a target for harassment by those "protesting". I ignored it and moved on, there was no point of engaging with them. though I can't say it didn't bother or stick with me during the day making those days less or non productive. Do I understand why they are protesting Israel? yes. do I disagree with them yes? Do I think they have a right to protest, yes. However, all schools should have codes of conduct that relate to how one deals with their peers. If one can't deal with their peers in a respectful manner they don't deserve the right to be at the school. If the only way to protest is by shouting a speaker you dislike down, you are treating the speaker and the students who came to hear him speak with disrespect. There's no reason on/adjacent to a college campus one can't protest peacefully. A silent protest with signs that everyone has to see as they enter the building would get their point across while treating their fellow students in the manner that they demand to be treated as well. The problem becomes when you "excuse" those who you feel are weaker for acting in a way while only criticizing those who you view as stronger/powerful for acting that way. Why? because the strong/powerful are the strong and powerful, if you excuse it for the weak, they'll just do it as well and with more impact. One has to not accept it anywhere and therefore not give the "powerful" any room to behave this way against the "weak". It's the main reason I dislike the concept of "punching up" vs "punching down". if you excuse "punching up", those above will end up "punching down" much harder. this is a problem on both the left and right in the US (a pox on all their houses). The problem for most of us is that do a terrible time calling out those who are closer to what we consider our ideological allies than calling out those who are further from our ideological circles.