'Columbia didn't stand, it crumbled'- faculty protests as students return to school with new policies

Diario As

24/3/2025

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00:00Whose university? Our university!

00:07The Trump administration is waging a war on college and a war on knowledge.

00:13We are here to display and demand courage and integrity in response.

00:19Now, let's take a step back and ask ourselves,

00:25Should the government decide which students get admitted to college and which get rejected?

00:30No!

00:32But we are unafraid. We are organizing. We are fighting back.

00:39On the other hand, Columbia's shocking surrender to the Trump administration's threats and intimidation is a disgrace.

00:48We don't get it. Shut it down!

00:55Why do autocrats fear higher education?

00:59Why are they so hostile to the free expression of ideas?

01:03Well, universities are threatening to autocrats because we teach independent and critical thinking.

01:09Because we train our students to scrutinize evidence and demand rigor.

01:14And because we teach students to be skeptical of authority, especially our own authority.

01:19If anyone thinks that we can brainwash Columbia students, they've never met a Columbia student.

01:37I would like to end by sharing the words of a Medical Center colleague who asked me to.

01:41She's already lost her position.

01:43She was the diversity director of the genetic counseling graduate program that was eliminated.

01:48She says,

01:50We must not cage to fragility and fear and realize how interconnected we are.

01:55First they came for the pro-Palestinians.

01:58Then they came for all the marginalized DEI people.

02:01Then they came for the scientists.

02:03And now for MESAS.

02:05Who will they come for next?

02:09Let us all see clearly that their goal is oppressing the voices of anyone who threatens their powers.

02:15We must stand up for diversity.

02:18We must stand up for self-governance.

02:20And we must stand up for science.

02:23I can have my freedom.

02:26Really?

02:27Yeah.

02:28Everybody's taking pictures of everyone.

02:30It's a traumatic experience.

02:36Well, what's happening here is of enormous importance not just for Columbia,

02:40but for all universities and for the democracy as well.

02:43So we feel that the pressure that the administration is putting on Columbia

02:48is a very serious threat to freedom of speech, freedom of protest, and the university's role in democracy.

03:04All week we were waiting for some sort of reply from Columbia.

03:08And what came out from the president's office was very disappointing.

03:13And we felt a betrayal of the values that Columbia has historically stood for.

03:18Stand Columbia is the Columbia slogan.

03:22And Columbia didn't stand. It crumpled.

03:43Stand Columbia is the Columbia slogan.

04:03Stand Columbia is the Columbia slogan.

04:06I think Columbia is going back on every ideal that it was built on.

04:11And the thing is they keep preaching about democratic values,

04:15and free speech, and whatever Columbia teaches us, which is quite great.

04:19It's one of the reasons why I applied here.

04:22I love this school. It's why it's so famous.

04:25And every value it seems to uphold is just completely broken.

04:29It's just complete hypocrisy, I think.

04:32And I think it really has to put into question what it's doing, what it's doing for money.

04:38Because normally you would think, and historically college campuses and colleges

04:42always have fought against, for example, the Vietnam War.

04:47Colleges were the reason why the Vietnam War was stopped.

04:50And now we're just bending over backwards to basically a fascist regime.

04:57I was thinking about wearing a mask today because I'm feeling a little under the weather.

05:01I know that a lot of students are wearing masks today in protest,

05:06which I think is a great idea, just for everyone to wear masks.

05:26I hope that the money goes towards a good cause, at least.

05:30If it goes towards the students, if they're going to go and accept this money.

05:34I think that the immediate will to just bend to the government

05:39without a lot of communication with the students

05:44and a lot of seeming empathetic for the students was really difficult to watch.

05:55Well, I think the students are probably going to make some protests.

06:02I think the situation on campus is a little bit testy.

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