Ex-Purdue president Mitch Daniels says student protesters who break laws should be expelled and replaced

Former Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said Sunday that student protesters who broke the law should be expelled from the university and their spots given to other applicants who were initially denied admission.

“I think the appropriate outcome here is, first of all, expulsion from the university,” Daniels, who is also a former Republican governor of Indiana, said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.” .

“These so-called elite institutions pride themselves on their selectivity,” he continued. “For every student who just broke a rule or law, there were 10 or 20 students who wished they had that space. And that space became available to one of them and they should be able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to attend a good university as intended.”

Daniels said he does not support the idea of ​​stripping student visas from people who “support” Hamas, the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization that carried out the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Asked about that suggestion, Daniels said, “Probably not in most cases.”

“Even if someone breaks the law, I think there are rules already in place that require or at least allow the revocation of the right to visit this country. “No, and that is still the case,” he continued. “But no, generally not.”

Protests on college campuses have intensified in recent weeks, and university administrators have faced intense scrutiny over their response. Some have criticized the school for not doing enough to enforce campus policies and protect Jewish students who feel threatened on campus, while others say the police intervention is unnecessarily aggressive. Some people criticize it.