Columbia University professor Joseph Slaughter said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Chris Jansing Report” that “gross mismanagement” by the school’s administrators led New York City police to clear positions and arrest protesters. He said he had to.
“Teachers near me, students near me were crying in despair over the fact that the administration was escalating to the point of bringing in assault teams to suppress the student movement,” Slaughter said. It is understandable that the occupation is separate from the completely peaceful and non-violent encampment that has existed on campus for the past 10 days or so.
He added: “The fact that the building can be occupied is due in part to the gross mismanagement of this administration, which has been consistently escalating over the past seven months. For seven months they have been trying to convey what they understand to be a human rights message about human rights, but at every turn they have faced repressive measures to silence their ability to speak, demonstrate and try. And this administration has failed to listen to the voices of students since October and November. Under the president, they have consistently made administrative decisions like these within a small cabinet without listening to the voices of teachers, experts in the field, and experts in the field. This has escalated the student’s speech and brought it to a boil.
NBC News correspondent Antonia Hilton said, “They released a statement this morning saying that the president has tried to have productive conversations with the students for eight days, and in short, they’ve tried to do their best to avoid what happened here.” He said he did his best.” Don’t you believe what they say? ”
“They may have been trying to do their best for the last eight days. They haven’t been at their best for the last six months,” Slaughter said. And if the students had had those productive conversations when they were up all night making statements, we wouldn’t be here today. My understanding is that this president has refused to meet with the leaders of the two student organizations he unilaterally suspended in November to discuss their demands and concerns. “This is a potential genocide in Gaza.”
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