Columbia U. Hates Soldiers!

Need more evidence that “America’s Elite” Universities actually hate everything this country stands for? Look no further than New York City’s Ivy League school Columbia University. Columbia, home to the America hating and military bashing adjunct Professor Nick de Genova has once again demonstrated it’s lack of integrity by failing to enforce its own standards of conduct. Why? Because the victim of verbal harassment was a military reservist. This from the University’s own daily paper:

On Club Day(In September of 2005) , Zach Zill, CC ’06, Monique Dols, GS ’06, and Jonah Birch, CC ’05, approached the table for the Columbia Military Society—a Student Governing Board-recognized group for Columbia students in Fordham’s ROTC program—because they heard it was being used for ROTC recruitment, which is not allowed on campus.

“We went there to voice our disagreement with the fact that they were there and pick up some of their fliers,” Dols said.
Sanchez stopped by the table soon after and entered the debate. In the course of the argument, Zill asserted that the military “uses minorities as cannon fodder,” Sanchez said.

“My last name is Sanchez. I’m Puerto Rican. I’m a minority. Zach Zill is blonde and blue-eyed. I said, ‘Look, I’m a minority. I know I enlisted; I don’t feel like I’m being used at all,’” Sanchez said. “[Zill] said, ‘Well, you’re too stupid to know that you’re being used.’”

After the incident, Sanchez met with Marsha Wagner, a University Ombuds officer who mediates disputes. She presented him with several options, including filing a discrimination complaint with the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, which he did.

Dols and Zill were brought in for hearings in November and were later told that the administration did not hold them responsible. At the end of the fall semester, Sanchez received a letter from McGee expressing sympathy for his “interaction with other members of our community.”

“We expect our students to uphold the standards of conduct of the University, which include tolerance, respect, integrity, and civility,” she wrote. “I can assure you that appropriate action was taken, and, more importantly, lessons were learned.”

Apparently Columbia only enforces its hate speech code when it likes the victims politics. And why the heck is ROTC recruiting banned from Columbia’s campus? Don’t they get federal money? Currently the U.S. MILITARY VETERANS OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY are seeking further remedy.

U.S. MILITARY VETERANS OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY asks that Columbia University amend its Discrimination and Harassment Policy to grant all veterans and military-related persons protected status. Likewise, we hold the university responsible for promoting a military-sensitive environment on campus and preventing further discrimination of veterans and military-related persons at the university.

An effective discrimination policy protects the diverse members of any evolving academic community, sets out transparent standards of acceptable conduct, and reinforces the distinct line between free speech and discrimination. This allows for the safe environment that is essential for everyone to participate fully in the academic domain.

The current discrimination policy of Columbia University, which limits codified protection to “Vietnam era and disabled” veterans, is outdated and inadequate for the present-day veteran and military-related population. Last semester, a student at a university event was verbally attacked for being a U.S. Marine. This combined with a recent poll among Columbia’s veterans and military-related persons further confirms the need for reform of the Discrimination and Harassment Policy.

As Columbia President Lee Bollinger stated in response to the recent hate crime incident in the Ruggles dormitory, "The entire Columbia community is injured when any of its members are made, unjustly, to feel vulnerable. Such deplorable acts of hate have no place at Columbia and will not be tolerated." We hope Columbia University will make the necessary changes to show that discrimination against veterans and military-related persons also will not be tolerated.

I have a solution. Let’s stop funding Columbia. Let’s make sure no federal tax dollars go there. No federal financial aid packages get used there. If you’re a patriot and you endow this school in any way please stop. At least until they realize that American soldiers don’t deserve the kind of harassment that this school encourages.