Minoush Shafik wanted to “reorganize our society” to create “a more tolerant and inclusive society”.
Instead, she had to cancel the start of classes.
The president of Columbia University is just one of the progressive elites who encouraged a generation to become activists, but now, as students pitch tents and break windows in the name of Palestine, they He is reaping the consequences of creating a self-righteous monster.
In her 2021 book, What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract for a Better Society, Shafiq aspires to usher in fundamental change driven by a new generation of activists. It seems like it is.
“Here we again need a new paradigm,” Shafiq writes. “Significant changes… have revealed how dysfunctional our existing social contract has become.”
Shafik’s carefully polished resume — the World Bank. International Monetary Fund. The curse of being a senior British civil servant who promotes “international development.” Deanship of the ultra-elite London School of Economics. Teaching at Georgetown and Wharton’s School of Business has cemented her place at the heart of elite educational institutions.
Her resume and active activist attitude are exactly what elite higher education institutions would choose.
It is full of causes and organizations where piety and reality rarely collide. An elite whose members are insulated from the consequences of their actions by extreme privilege.
A lack of diversity of perspectives and socio-economic classes is exactly why higher education institutions are suffering. And why left-wing politics can be left virtually unchecked on campuses.
Shafiq certainly got more than she expected, as her students enthusiastically embraced the pro-Palestinian cause and a new paradigm she never saw coming.
They pitched tents, shouted into loudspeakers, and took over campus quads.
When protesters (also joined by outside agitators) took over Hamilton Hall by force in the name of Palestine, they smashed glass, used campus furniture as barricades, and threw “Intifada” posters through windows. Mr. Shafiq had to allow New York City police officers in riot gear to enter the scene. Eliminate campers and arrest over 100 people.
After weeks of turmoil, chaos continues on campus and the university is unable to function properly. Final exams will be held remotely, and fourth-year students who were unable to attend their high school graduation ceremonies due to the pandemic will also be absent. Thank you again to the campus agitators.
It’s certainly a new paradigm. And that’s exactly what campus leaders were looking for, they just didn’t know it.
Filled with jargon and academic invective, Shafiq’s book is a call to society to hold those in power to account.
“Achieving a better social contract ultimately means making political institutions more accountable,” she writes.
And Columbia University students are doing just that by championing the “little guys” in Gaza and disrupting the “power structure” of campus leaders within their own academic system. He seems to be thinking about it.
“Moments of crisis are also moments of opportunity,” Shafik writes in his book. Her students have certainly used the opportunity of the wars in the Middle East to advance their own notions of justice.
Student activists have been coddled time and time again to pursue their cause.
When student protesters were upset by President Trump’s election, some campuses I canceled classes to accommodate them..When Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal infuriated left-handed students and universities provided mental health support.
And the killing of George Floyd inspired universities… Including Colombia itself. -Conceding to activists’ demands by committing to “anti-racism” initiatives.
Once a university agrees with a student’s cause, it enthusiastically promotes the cause. But this time it was different.
To her credit, Shafiq called in the NYPD to clear Hamilton Hall. And she (unlike other elite university presidents) actively condemned calls for the genocide of Jews.
But it is time for her, and university leaders across the country, to recognize the fact that they have been active advocates for activism.
Do you remember when Shafik praised “young people”? [who] Are you already rallying for action in her book?
They are now waving “levees for divestment” signs and destroying campus buildings in the name of progress.
In light of these developments, let’s hope that Shafik is beginning to realize that this generation of righteous protesters is not creating the new paradigm she wants. They are just causing confusion.
