Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Campus Free Speech

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

Only one poster survived for a full 24 hours.

Robby Soave | 10.22.2016 1:45 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
Large image on homepages | AEI
(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.

All across campus, in all diff buildings, posters for @CHSommers visit to @Columbia on Nov 1st have been ripped down: pic.twitter.com/8BcvlvG5Hl

— Toni Airaksinen (@Toni_Airaksinen) October 21, 2016

Update: one single @CHSommers flyer out of ~20 has stood the test of 24 hours in the student center. There were 2 left just 15 min ago. pic.twitter.com/LJGPcRZwuU

— Toni Airaksinen (@Toni_Airaksinen) October 21, 2016

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.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

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

Robby Soave is a senior editor at Reason.

Campus Free Speech
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (97)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Hyperion   9 years ago

    There triggering posters… there should be a law.

    1. CharleneJGonzales   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

    NOT OKay

    1. Ted S.   9 years ago

      SIV probably tears down Gary Johnson posters.

  3. AlmightyJB   9 years ago

    Infantile

    1. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

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

      1. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

        “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. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        The leftists have ladders too!

        1. The Elite Elite   9 years ago

          +50 foot wall and 51 foot ladder

        2. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

          No they don’t. Stop making shit up.

          1. Lord Rollingpin   9 years ago

            They steal them from libertarians.

        3. DiegoF   9 years ago

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

  4. Heroic Mulatto   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

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

      1. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

        “I see anti-Semites.” – HM

        1. (((Renegade)))   9 years ago

          So do I. ^

    2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      ….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   9 years ago

        I recall saying no such thing.

    3. Adans smith   9 years ago

      It may,in fact,be both.

    4. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

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

  5. Rick Stands   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

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

      1. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

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

      2. Anomalous   9 years ago

        Where is Robert Smith when you need him?

    2. westernsloper   9 years ago

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

  6. Rick Stands   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

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

  7. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    “TEARING DOWN POSTERS IS JUST FREE SPEECH YOU FASCIST”

    /PEN America

  8. Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

      Haha. That’s a good one.

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

      1. Hyperion   9 years ago

        Liberty, that word is hate speech!

        1. Just Say'n   9 years ago

          ‘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. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

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

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

    1. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

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

      1. Hyperion   9 years ago

        +1 safe space

      2. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

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

    2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

        I’m having trouble picking a favorite.

        All, being so painfully correct.

        1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

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

  10. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

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

    1. Hyperion   9 years ago

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

      1. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

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

        Jill Stein approves this message.

        1. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

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

          1. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

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

            1. DenverJ   9 years ago

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

              1. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

                Jill Stein – the sure cure for your electile dysfunction.

                Jill Stein approves this message.

            2. Haybob   9 years ago

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

        2. Steve G   9 years ago

          her anti-Semitism

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

          1. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

            ^ anti-Semite

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

            Jill Stein approves this message.

            1. Steve G   9 years ago

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

              1. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

                The Joos are spreading chemtrails, right?

                1. DenverJ   9 years ago

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

    2. Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair   9 years ago

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

      Disablist!

    3. butt-head   9 years ago

      “shreek, I hate your stupid hair!”

      “Then…just look away.”

  11. Adans smith   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

        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   9 years ago

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

  12. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

    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. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

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

    Jill Stein approves this message.

    1. DenverJ   9 years ago

      A real shot at what?

  14. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

      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. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

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

  16. Mongo   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

      Madison?

    2. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

      Daddy owns a car wash?

    3. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

      32, not 23.

      And a very hard 32.

    4. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

    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. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

      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. Trigger Warning   9 years ago

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

  18. AlmightyJB   9 years ago

    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. AddictionMyth   9 years ago

      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. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

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

  20. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

        Eh, fair point.

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

        Empowerment through victimhood, FTW!

  21. Lorenzo Zoil   9 years ago

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

    Philistines.

  22. ammythomas251   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

    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. Trigger Warning   9 years ago

    You know who else tore down posters?

    1. The Fusionist   9 years ago

      Cavanaugh?

      1. Trigger Warning   9 years ago

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

    2. Vernon Depner   9 years ago

      Wanted gunslingers?

  25. Eman   9 years ago

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

    1. Trigger Warning   9 years ago

      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. OldMexican sine qua non   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

    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. ammyt9482   9 years ago

    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. Barry Ronald   9 years ago

    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 …….
    Kodi APK Latest

  29. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

    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   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

      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   9 years ago

    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. Barry Ronald   7 years ago

    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.

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

How Tariffs Are Breaking the Manufacturing Industries Trump Says He Wants To Protect

Eric Boehm | From the July 2025 issue

The Latest Escalation Between Russia and Ukraine Isn't Changing the Course of the War

Matthew Petti | 6.6.2025 4:28 PM

Marsha Blackburn Wants Secret Police

C.J. Ciaramella | 6.6.2025 3:55 PM

This Small Business Is in Limbo As Owner Sues To Stop Trump's Tariffs

Eric Boehm | 6.6.2025 3:30 PM

A Runner Was Prosecuted for Unapproved Trail Use After the Referring Agency Called It 'Overcriminalization'

Jacob Sullum | 6.6.2025 2:50 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!