It is good the school acted -- but it is much too late and much too weak.

Columbia University has warned or censured eight students who were involved in disrupting speakers from the Minuteman Project last October in a melee that cut short the program, a university spokesman said yesterday.

In the televised fracas, protesters stormed a stage at the university and were attacked by others, shutting down speeches by the group, which opposes illegal immigration and has mounted civilian border patrols. The event hurtled the university back into the debate over free speech. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg chastised Columbia at the time.

The warnings and censures will be noted on the students’ transcripts for varying lengths of time, said Robert Hornsby, a Columbia spokesman. None will remain on the records after graduation. But if students face other disciplinary proceedings, they will face harsher penalties. “All of these punishments have a gravity to them and they should not be taken lightly,” Mr. Hornsby said.

Unfortunately, at least one disciplined student sees this as a victory for his side.

David Judd, a third-year student studying computer science who was one of the students who received a warning, said, “I view the fact that I got the lightest possible punishment as a small victory.”

And that's the problem -- the slap-on-the-wrist penalty says that nothing significant will happen to students who engage in attempts to shut down speech they disagree with.

I'm curious -- would the penalty have been so light if, instead of a speech by the Minutemen, a group of students had taken the stage and shut down a speech by Rev. Al Sharpton or Sen. Hillary Clinton? If instead of a program sponsored by the College Republicans, it had been a speech sponsored by a gay or Muslim group? I think we all know what would have happened in such cases.

Posted by: Greg at 10:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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