Campus Free Speech

Columbia U. Students Tear Down Posters Advertising Christina Hoff Sommers Visit

Only one poster survived for a full 24 hours.

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(AEI)

Individualist-feminist author Christina Hoff Sommers is giving a talk at Columbia University, but some students don't want anyone to know about it.

Posters advertising Sommers' visit were torn down in buildings across campus, according to Toni Airaksinen, a reporter for Campus Reform and student at Columbia-affiliated Barnard College. Airaksinen wrote on Twitter that only one of about 20 posters survived for a full day.

Look, if students really don't want to listen to Sommers, they are under no obligation to attend her talk. But other students might appreciate the chance to hear from someone who represents a perspective they are unlikely to learn about in class.

And if Columbia's leftist-students are so afraid of alternative perspectives, they can't have very much confidence in the persuasiveness of their own beliefs.

Sommers' talk, "Victims, Victims Everywhere," is at 7:00 p.m. on November 1.

NEXT: What Has Government Done for Lower-Income, Working Americans? Screwed Them, Mostly.

Robby Soave is a senior editor at Reason.

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  1. Hyperion

    There triggering posters… there should be a law.

    1. Start working at home with Google! It’s by-far the best job I’ve had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this – 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link,

      go? to tech tab for work detail,,,,,,, http://www.highpay90.com

    2. DemiElliott

      Start working at home with Google! It’s by-far the best job I’ve had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this – 4 weeks past. I began this 6-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $90 per hour.
      I work through this web site.. Go to tech tab start your work… http://www.Trends88.Com

  2. SIV

    NOT OKay

    1. SIV probably tears down Gary Johnson posters.

  3. AlmightyJB

    Infantile

    1. Infantile is not knowing enough to bring a ladder to hang your posters out of reach.

      1. Chipper Morning Wood

        “If I have seen to keep opposing view points away from this campus, it is only because I stood on the shoulders of giants. Literally. Those trans chicks are huge.”

      2. The leftists have ladders too!

        1. The Elite Elite

          +50 foot wall and 51 foot ladder

        2. No they don’t. Stop making shit up.

          1. Lord Rollingpin

            They steal them from libertarians.

        3. DiegoF

          You have a ladder, but you didn’t build it.

  4. And if Columbia’s leftist-students are so afraid of alternative perspectives, they can’t have very much confidence in the persuasiveness of their own beliefs.

    Considering that it’s Columbia we’re talking about, I think that perhaps it has less to do with alternative perspectives and more to do with the fact that Dr. Sommers is a Jew.

    1. Rick Stands

      Occam would disagree — there’s nothing on the flyer about her being a Jew and that’s not common knowledge.

      1. “I see anti-Semites.” – HM

        1. (((Renegade)))

          So do I. ^

    2. ….what?

      I get that the left @ Columbia is “anti-israel”; but … you’re saying they have problems with “Jews”, writ large?

      That’s news to me.

      1. writ large

        I recall saying no such thing.

    3. Adans smith

      It may,in fact,be both.

    4. I didn’t know she was a jew until you told me. Now I have a problem with it.

  5. Rick Stands

    It’s especially stupid because almost nobody’s going to read a flyer on a cluttered billboard anyway. All they’ve accomplished is trigger the Streisand effect.

    1. Gene

      Not the Mecha-Streisand effect, I hope… or maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.

      1. Chipper Morning Wood

        Thankfully, the pieces of the Diamond of Pantheos are thousands of miles apart.

      2. Anomalous

        Where is Robert Smith when you need him?

    2. westernsloper

      I had no idea there was a Streisand effect until you sad Streisand and I shuddered. Who knew.

  6. Rick Stands

    And if Columbia’s leftist-students are so afraid of alternative perspectives, they can’t have very much confidence in the persuasiveness of their own beliefs.

    The activist left doesn’t give a rat’s ass about persuasion. To some extent they tried to keep up appearances in the past, but that’s over and done with in 2016. Now they’re all about coercion and very up front about that fact.

    1. Vernon Depner

      Beat me to it. They’re completely frank with their violent self-righteousness.

  7. “TEARING DOWN POSTERS IS JUST FREE SPEECH YOU FASCIST”

    /PEN America

  8. Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair

    Hold on — why the assumption it’s leftists? Might it not be right wing fascists who don’t think women should be outside the home acting all independant-like?

    1. Just Say'n

      Haha. That’s a good one.

      Those damn fascists at Young Americans for Freedom and Young Americans for Liberty!

      1. Hyperion

        Liberty, that word is hate speech!

        1. Just Say'n

          ‘Freedom’ is triggering.

          The antics of these Maoists would be funnier if it weren’t for the fact that administrators are caving-in to their silly demands.

          Cultural Revolution here we come!

  9. Q: How many social justice warriors does it take to tear down a poster?

    A: ____, ____ to ___________ and ____ to _________________.

    1. A: 16, one to tear it down and 15 to console her for the trauma of witnessing an opposing viewpoint.

      1. Hyperion

        +1 safe space

      2. Juvenile Bluster

        17, since we need to add one more after you misgendered xer.

    2. One, to declare herself triggered and traumatized by its message of hate
      12, to form a campus committee to issue a set of completely unrelated socialist-demands
      150 to agree on twitter that the right thing to do is to SHAME THOSE PIGS by destroying their rightist propaganda
      and 2 to actually have the nerve and the time to walk around pulling down posters in mortal terror of actually being caught, but experiencing a strange sexual thrill while doing so.

      1. writ large

        I’m having trouble picking a favorite.

        All, being so painfully correct.

        1. i forgot to add the formulaic sum at the beginning – it should have begun “165 = …..”

  10. Dear Columbia students: If you don’t want to see it then just look away.

    1. Hyperion

      They aren’t as open minded and enlightened as you, shreek. Don’t you have cankle duty today?

      1. Though I despise her anti-Semitism, I’m shilling for Jill these days.

        Jill Stein approves this message.

        1. Chipper Morning Wood

          You are gonna end up voting for her ironically, if you are not careful.

          1. What happens in the privacy of a voting booth is none of anyone’s business.

            1. DenverJ

              “Oooh gross ! That guy was euphemising in the voting booth!”

              1. Jill Stein – the sure cure for your electile dysfunction.

                Jill Stein approves this message.

            2. Haybob

              Note to self, bring clorox wipes and hand sanitizer when I vote.

        2. Steve G

          her anti-Semitism

          Which, in today’s parlance means she doesn’t shill hard enough for Israel.

          1. ^ anti-Semite

            HM – I think we need a clown rap right about now.

            Jill Stein approves this message.

            1. Steve G

              You couldn’t have picked a better way to prove my point.

              1. The Joos are spreading chemtrails, right?

                1. DenverJ

                  Not just spreading them, but getting little kids hooked on them!

    2. Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair

      What if they’re wearing a neck brace and can’t easily adjust their gaze? Eh, smart guy?

      Disablist!

    3. butt-head

      “shreek, I hate your stupid hair!”

      “Then…just look away.”

  11. Adans smith

    Boy,are these idiots going to be shocked when they leave the warm blanket of school and their parents check books. When I was that age I was learning a skill to make a living and drinking,smoking a little pot and chasing pussy. And I paid my way. Good times,

    1. Vernon Depner

      No, they won’t be shocked. Workplaces, especially in government, large corporations, and non-profits, are already fully infested with their own kind. They’ll be working with supervisors and HR people trained by the same academics teaching them now. If they’re careful not to associate with old people or the “working class”, they can stay in their snow globe forever.

      1. John C. Randolph

        Some are, some aren’t. The companies where people are expected to get their work done instead of wanking and sniveling have a competitive advantage over the bubble wrapped playpens.

        -jcr

    2. SimonD

      No, they won’t miss it. They’re going to go to work in government or academia.

  12. Chipper Morning Wood

    Who the hell tears down a poster? That is just despicable behavior, like throwing trash on the sidewalk, or bumping an old lady out of the way.

  13. I’m starting to think Jill might actually have a real shot.

    Jill Stein approves this message.

    1. DenverJ

      A real shot at what?

  14. Neither here nor there, but this is the kind of boss Album Cover which has really fallen out of favor.

    Also, cravats.

    1. Tim from Philly

      Thank you. The music was OK, but the girl on the cover, oh lordy lordy. Proof there are gods and they want us to be happy.

  15. We interrupt the Trump-mageddon for the Troll-pocalypse!

  16. Mongo

    Just the other day: A drunk 23-year old chyck in Wisconsin smeared peanut butter over thirty cars and disrupted a meeting that she thought was a Trump rally but was actually a meeting of conservationists.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Madison?

    2. Daddy owns a car wash?

    3. Juvenile Bluster

      32, not 23.

      And a very hard 32.

    4. 32yr old.

      and she looked like she was 60. it was much discussed.

      Speaking of “projection”, you ever notice for all the assertion that “the Trump campaign is driven by hatred and anger and hostility” and blah blah blah…?

      …. that, despite that accepted-fact, you don’t seem to ever see any mention of Trump people stealing Hillary 2016 signs, or demanding colleges ban chalk drawings of Hillary’s name, or Hillary campaign offices being firebombed, or people attacking hillary supporters at her rallies, etc.

      Kinda weird, huh? yet its simply mentioned as a matter-of-fact that its the Trumpettes who are frothing with rage and hostility.

  17. riak

    Oh, it has nothing to do with “coercion”. I had always been puzzled by the typical left-of-center shutdown of interpersonal debate by “I don’t want to argue about it.” I too had always been under the impression that they were unwilling to defend their belief(s) against a challenge. However, strangely enough, just the other day, a person new to my social circles and I started a debate, and before it really got going, he said, “I like you too much to continue this conversation. To prevent a manic rage, I don’t want to argue about it.” And finally, I understood. The “I don’t want to argue about it” response is because they are so convinced of their own righteousness that a challenge to their belief(s) is a cause for uncontrollable anger . . . The students ripping down posters are just even more sensitive and unable to control themselves than their older co-religionists.

    1. It’s a big problem. These people need to be identified so that they can be provided treatment for their anger issues – rageful speech is an early indication of violent tendencies. Also the people who evade treatment and get radicalized must be muzzled so that they can’t spread their hateful ideologies that threaten public safety, and so that reasonable, moderate people like you can express yourselves without fear of being attacked.

      1. You’re addicted to being an asshole, aren’t you?

  18. AlmightyJB

    In general conversations with people, whenever I make a reference to trigger warnings or safe spaces, no one ever has any idea what I am talking about. Pretty funny considering the large number of colleges in and around Columbus including the largest in the country.

    1. Actually even college students don’t know what it is. Except for a few east coast hot spots. Mostly it’s an issue ginned up by right wing zealots, even if it (ironically) only ends up discrediting them. (E.g. David French)

  19. Free-speech is a racist, right-wing construct.

  20. Trigger Hippie

    I’ll never understand why people would want to live their lives being so weak that the mere presence of an opposing veiwpoint or an utterance of a word you find distasteful could cause you to fall into hysterics.

    Are we raising an entire generation of 4 year olds?

    1. creech

      Are we raising an entire generation of 4 year olds?
      Why not? The grandparents of these vandals were the ones who wouldn’t allow Goldwater or conservative posters to survive 30 minutes on campus in the 1960s.

      1. Trigger Hippie

        Eh, fair point.

        Ivy League Students: the most put upon group of youths in our fair nation.

        Empowerment through victimhood, FTW!

  21. Lorenzo Zoil

    Don’t you understand? Hanging a poster is an act of violence. Just like an unwanted glance is rape.

    Philistines.

  22. ammythomas251

    until I looked at the paycheck saying $4730 , I did not believe that…my… brother woz like actualy bringing in money part time from there computar. . there friend brother started doing this for less than 7 months and resently paid for the morgage on there home and bought a new Cadillac …….

    …….. http://www.jobprofit9.com

  23. Just Say'n

    The Left, circa 1990: “Silencing speech is the mark of tyrants!” “The government should accommodate religious groups, as has long been the custom in America.”

    The Left, circa 2016: “Any speech to the right of Joseph Stalin is hate speech and needs to be silenced!” “The government should crush the religious”

    Maoism in America

  24. You know who else tore down posters?

    1. Cavanaugh?

      1. Holy shit, you got the actual answer I was hoping for. Bravo.

    2. Vernon Depner

      Wanted gunslingers?

  25. Eman

    Taking posters that you dislike down is pretty obviously an expression of your values. Why aren’t they free to do that?

    1. The posters do not belong to them, and are not in places that are owned by them, and do not pose a tangible threat to them.

      Expressing your values is great. Do it in a way that does not involve destroying other speech.

      A preference for silencing speech that offends you, rather than ignoring it, or countering with different speech, is childish, unproductive, and antithetical to a free and open culture.

    2. Re: Eman,

      Taking posters that you dislike down is pretty obviously an expression of your values.

      If you’re a VANDAL and a THUG, then yes, that IS an obvious reflection of your values. Or lack thereof.

  26. thomasammy45

    until I looked at the paycheck saying $4730 , I did not believe that…my… brother woz like actualy bringing in money part time from there computar. . there friend brother started doing this for less than 7 months and resently paid for the morgage on there home and bought a new Cadillac …….

    …….. http://www.jobprofit9.com

  27. Ellie . true that Susan `s blurb is good… I just purchased a gorgeous Fiat Panda sincee geting a check for $8891 this-last/4 weeks and also ten grand last-month . this is actually the most financialy rewarding Ive had . I started this 9-months ago and right away was bringin in at least $87, per-hour .

    see……………. http://www.BuzzNews10.com

  28. until I looked at the paycheck saying $4730 , I did not believe that…my… brother woz like actualy bringing in money part time from there computar. . there friend brother started doing this for less than 7 months and resently paid for the morgage on there home and bought a new Cadillac …….
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  29. Juvenile Bluster

    This is a university that once said the following when they hosted the President of Iran (broken up due to hated 1500 character limit):

    Sept. 19, 2007

    On Monday, September 24, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is scheduled to appear as a speaker on campus. The event is sponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs (see SIPA announcement), which has been in contact with the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. The event will be part of the annual World Leaders Forum, the University-wide initiative intended to further Columbia’s longstanding tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate, especially on global issues.

    In order to have such a University-wide forum, we have insisted that a number of conditions be met, first and foremost that President Ahmadinejad agree to divide his time evenly between delivering remarks and responding to audience questions. I also wanted to be sure the Iranians understood that I would myself introduce the event with a series of sharp challenges to the president on issues including:

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      the Iranian president’s denial of the Holocaust;
      his public call for the destruction of the State of Israel;
      his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;
      Iran’s pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanction;
      his government’s widely documented suppression of civil society and particularly of women’s rights; and
      his government’s imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia’s own alumni, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh (see President Bollinger’s statement on Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh’s release).

      I would like to add a few comments on the principles that underlie this event. Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas?to understand the world as it is and as it might be. To fulfill this mission we must respect and defend the rights of our schools, our deans and our faculty to create programming for academic purposes. Necessarily, on occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. We trust our community, including our students, to be fully capable of dealing with these occasions, through the powers of dialogue and reason.

    2. Juvenile Bluster

      I would also like to invoke a major theme in the development of freedom of speech as a central value in our society. It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas or our naivet? about the very real dangers inherent in such ideas. It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible.

      That such a forum could not take place on a university campus in Iran today sharpens the point of what we do here. To commit oneself to a life?and a civil society?prepared to examine critically all ideas arises from a deep faith in the myriad benefits of a long-term process of meeting bad beliefs with better beliefs and hateful words with wiser words. That faith in freedom has always been and remains today our nation’s most potent weapon against repressive regimes everywhere in the world. This is America at its best.

  30. ammyt97

    until I looked at the paycheck saying $4730 , I did not believe that…my… brother woz like actualy bringing in money part time from there computar. . there friend brother started doing this for less than 7 months and resently paid for the morgage on there home and bought a new Cadillac …….

    …….. http://www.jobprofit9.com

  31. until I looked at the paycheck saying $4730 , I did not believe that…my… brother woz like actualy bringing in money part time from there computar. . there friend brother started doing this for less than 7 months and resently paid for the morgage on there home and bought a new Kingo Android Root For Android.

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