23 CommentsA digest of activisty news we missed from the last week.
Copycats! Over at UCLA–which showed up on our “WTF” radar last year because of that taser business–protesters actually shut down a talk by some Minutemen-affiliated speakers. (note: This is not the Minuteman Project, but the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.) Or, rather, according to the site above (the media coverage of this has been rather sparse, we might add…) admins pulled the plug on the event because of “security concerns.”
Speaking loudly: The Dems, determined to “take a strong stance on Iraq,” met on Wednesday to endorse a withdrawal plan. They didn’t, but will be meeting again on Tuesday to decide on a position. Sophomore president George Krebs sez they need to consider- “What the clearest vision for us is, and then take that vision and go to the next level with it. If you don’t do that, then you find yourself in a place where you’re concerned about how it’s going to be viewed rather than the substance of it.” Aw, the circumlocutions of budding politicos.
Carrying a big stick? In case you hadn’t seen the flyers, this Thursday there will be a mass walk-out at noon and a teach-in at 2 PM in Lerner against, well, the War. It was organized in conjunction with a national strike by an ad hoc group called the Columbia Coalition Against the War, who also set up an online petition, which has been signed by such illustrious presences as Prof. Robert Thurman, SGB prez Sakib Khan, and SAMER THE JUMBALAYA DESTROYER (?).
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23 Comments
@funny my class ends five minutes before noon
@mee Sakib is awesome. He prevented my controversial event from being canceled!! (and I am not in a pro-Palestinian club but he helped anyway!!)
I don’t always go to my (one) Thursday class, but I will make extra sure to not accidentally attend this Thursday.
@man I wish I had any classes on Thursday afternoon to walk out of. Hauling my butt out of my dorm room doesn’t quite have the same effect.
@y'all feeling this strike or what?
@assapop The reason Sakib’s leadership is attacked is not because of his ability to separate personal beliefs and SGB duties (which no one questions), but simply on what his personal beliefs are. If he was very Zionist, no one would bat an eye here at Columbia, but because Sakib holds anti-Zionist beliefs, his ability to lead is consistently called into question, without a shred of evidence against him.
I would suggest that these accusers learn a lesson from Sakib on how to separate their personal biases from unrelated discussions. Just because we go to the school with the second largest percentage of Jews (excluding Israeli universities) does not mean that a pro-Israeli viewpoint should necessarily be endorsed by student leaders.
@what the hell are you talking about?
Sakib’s thoughts on Israel were raised as an example of his impartiality. They were brought up to defend him.
You’re comment is irrelevant to the ‘argument,’ to the extent that there was one – pretty much everyone agrees that Sakib does a great job.
@question where does your stat come from? I’d have to think schools like Brandeis, Wash U, or even NYU would have a higher percentage of Jews than Columbia.
@Not to mention Yeshiva University, the University of Judaism, etc. etc.
@also “you find yourself in a place where you’re concerned about how it’s going to be viewed rather than the substance of it” – isn’t that basically where the Dems have quite frequently been…
@Columbian As basically all of the groups in SGB have some ideological component, it would really be impossible to find a President who is 100% non-partisan (because most likely a 100% non-partisan person wouldn’t be interested in joining an SGB group in the first place…)
And as someone whose worked with events involving both (non-Israeli) Middle Eastern speakers and Israeli speakers, the admin is *much* more hesitant to approve an event involving speakers representing Arab/Muslim countries. I don’t really feel that any pro-Israel groups are having difficulty getting their events approved or that there is a problem with lack of pro-Israel representation on campus…
@he seems a little over the top tho, no?
also … is one allowed to record the walkout/protest on thurs? would people be against it?
@meh Record as in YouTube video-ing it? As someone who plans on attending, I would *much* prefer that (if its recorded), just the speakers are recorded.
@also Sakib was a really good RA in Shapiro last year, with hella free food hookups.
@holla sakib’s da man!
@Question If an SGB club wanted to do a pro-war event, would Sakib disrupt it?
@haha “no pictures! no pictures!” *waves hand in cameraman’s face*
@as the president of a military related group, I can testify that Sakib has always been completely supportive, regardless of his personal views
@i am pumped for this walk out on thursday. been here awhile and i think the energy on campus has changed.
@Not a chance Sakib’s been great at keeping his personal ideology from interfering with his role as the head of SGB. For example, he’s very pro-palestinian and critical of Israel, yet he doesn’t in any way interfere with pro-Israel groups like Lionpac or Pro-Israel Progressives.
@I agree Sakib might be the fairest person on earth when it comes to separating his personal beliefs with his professional duties, but almost everyone will agree that even the appearance of conflict of interest can cause others (rightfully) to question his ability to lead and impartiality
@jeff maybe its just me, but is anyone else bothered by the use of abbrevs. such as prez and sez?
@yes just a little bit.
@Sprinkles w00t