@SEAS WE G0T T3H M0NEYZ!!!!!111$$$$$

@Computer Why indeed do the masters remain uncomputerized, Kroger, you daffy old coot?

@Sprinkles The quote from the Barnard girl being sued by the RIAA is hilarious: “It’s just money, and of course it could be a lot of money, but [my parents] understand that.”

Hmmm, that’s funny, if I persisted in doing something I knew was ILLEGAL, which you’re constantly told not to do at Columbia because it’s ILLEGAL, and then ended up getting caught, my parents wouldn’t bail me out, they’d make me take responsibility work my ass off to pay the penalty cash.

lollig.

@brian creeden So. We’ve offered residents of Manhattanville $5,000 on top of any increase in living expenses that residents will incur at their new locations and the community organizers have the gall to call it a “land grab?” This may be unsatisfactory to some residents, but it hardly qualifies as an unreasonable offer.

Every time I read about the Manhattanville resistance, I’m struck by the hardships that come with moving one’s home. However, there remains the open possibility that current residents will hold out indefinitely, seeking to enlist hapless Columbia activists and populist community officials to extort unreasonable fees from Columbia. The more I read about the situation, the more I believe that the former, legitimate concern has been adequately met, while the latter opportunistic maneuver increasingly dominates the standoff.

Granted, if my livelihood was a business in Manhattanville, I’d likely try to extract more money than I was due from the multi-billion dollar university attempting the buyout. This decidedly human reaction, however, does not make it economically or morally acceptable to encourage such rent-seeking under the guise of anti-gentrification. While I’m certain that many residents have perfectly legitimate intangibles that tie them to their homes, I fail to see how a substantial sum, coupled with a subsidy for any additional living expenses incurred in a move to what will–if the free market has anything to say about it–undoubtedly be better living conditions.

While there’s little that one can do about the political shell game being played, educated Columbia students and faculty don’t have to perpetuate the standoff by blindly participating in such unabashed extortion. I strongly support those Manhatanville residents with legitimate economic and sentimental concerns regarding their property. American principles hold few things more dear than the sanctity of one’s home. But even a passing analysis of the situation raises alarm about the possibility of an intractable situation motivated by excessive entitlement. I hesitate to liken it to the Israel-Palestine conflict but–although the stakes are universes apart–if this current offer doesn’t satisfy disgruntled residents, what will?