Old Glory drapes Columbia University freshman Alexandra Draggett, from Basking Ridge, N.J., and Greg Jones, a sophomore from Englewood, N.J., yesterday at demonstration in front of school's Low Library
Posted on 04/03/2003 8:16:07 AM PST by areafiftyone
Old Glory drapes Columbia University freshman Alexandra Draggett, from Basking Ridge, N.J., and Greg Jones, a sophomore from Englewood, N.J., yesterday at demonstration in front of school's Low Library
Students at Columbia University rallied yesterday to support U.S. soldiers in Iraq and blasted a controversial professor who called for the slaughter of coalition troops.
Speakers addressing about 250 people, who wore yellow ribbons and waved flags, ripped assistant professor Nicholas De Genova at the rally, at the school's Low Library. De Genova, at an anti-war "teach-in" last week, said he "would like to see a million Mogadishus" - a reference to the 1993 ambush in Somalia in which 18 U.S. soldiers were killed.
"Regardless of your political opinion, we should not call for the death of American troops," said Richard Space Jr., 25, a political science major and former Marine.
Megan Romigh, 22, president of College Republicans, said De Genova doesn't speak for all students and faculty.
"The students of Columbia University stand behind the men and women who defend the freedom of this great nation," Romigh said.
De Genova's remarks sparked a barrage of criticism and threats, according to university officials, and he has not appeared on campus since last week, even for class.
Opposing protest
At least a dozen protesters carrying anti-war slogans scattered throughout the crowd.
"I'm also supporting our troops," said freshman Daniel Harlow, 19. "I don't want them to get killed."
But others at the rally, which was organized by College Republicans and Students United for America, saluted soldiers for guaranteeing their liberties.
"Without our troops, we would not enjoy the freedom of assembly and right to dissent as we voice our opinions on this war," Romigh said.
William Pratt, 22, whose father is serving in Kuwait, said that it was important to show that support for the war exists on Columbia's campus.
"Whether we're 10 or 100, we need to get our word out there," he said.
MEGA- 
Stay Strong
Fuzzy
Ahem (Cough Cough!) I wonder why? Sometimes you just gotta love NYC!
Break down the ESTABLISHMENT walls!!
Liberation NOW!!
Corporal Joshua Miles and all the boys from
3rd Batallion 2nd Marines, Kuwait
SCOUTS OUT!
This guy MUST be a relative of Bill Murray, if not his brother. Every time I see him, I remember the movie "Stripes".
I'm always amused at how quick everyone is to think FR is the driving force behind so many boycotts, demonstrations, etc.
Why would 3/4 of the population be afraid to come out? I give credit to the Dixie Chicks, Martin Sheen, etc.
So we can all safely assume that he's not being paid...right, Columbia?
Spectator, now for the second time in less than a year, has succeeded to quote me in a remarkably decontextualized and inflammatory manner. In Margaret Hunt Gram's report on the faculty teach-in against the war in Iraq (March 27, 2003), I am quoted as wishing for a million Mogadishus but with no indication whatsoever of the perspective that framed that remark. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that your Staff Editorial in the same issue, denouncing the teach-in for "dogmatism," situates me in particular as the premier example of an academic "launching tirades against anything and everything American."
In my brief presentation, I outlined a long history of U.S. invasions, wars of conquest, military occupations, and colonization in order to establish that imperialism and white supremacy have been constitutive of U.S. nation-state formation and U.S. nationalism. In that context, I stressed the necessity of repudiating all forms of U.S. patriotism. I also emphasized that the disproportionate majority of U.S. troops come from racially subordinated and working-class backgrounds and are in the military largely as a consequence of a treacherous lack of prospects for a decent life. Nonetheless, I emphasized that U.S. troops are indeed confronted with a choice -- to perpetrate this war against the Iraqi people or to refuse to fight and contribute toward the defeat of the U.S. war machine. I also affirmed that Iraqi liberation can only be effected by the Iraqi people themselves, both by resisting and defeating the U.S. invasion as well as overthrowing a regime whose brutality was long sustained by none other than the U.S.
Such an anti-colonial struggle for self-determination might involve a million Mogadishus now but would ultimately have to become something more like another Vietnam. Vietnam was a stunning defeat for U.S. imperialism; as such, it was also a victory for the cause of human self-determination. Is this a tirade against "anything and everything American"? Far from it. First, I hasten to remind you that "American" refers to all of the Americas, not merely to the United States, as U.S. imperial chauvinism would have it. More importantly, my rejection of U.S. nationalism is an appeal to liberate our own political imaginations such that we might usher in a radically different world in which we will not remain the prisoners of U.S. global domination. ---Nicholas De Genova
Obviously, high intellect is a requirement to teach at this University.
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