I am following this closely because I have several student friends at Columbia who keep me informed.
As the wobblies said: "An Injury to One is an Injury to All". Best, Sabri +++++++ http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/04/02/3 e8aca102c6cf Published on April 02, 2003 Students Wage Silent Protest for De Genova Tensions ran high as the professor's students debated his statements. By Margaret Hunt Gram, Spectator News Editor Students of Professor Nicholas De Genova staged a silent, motionless protest on Low Plaza yesterday in support of their absent teacher. Seated cross-legged on folded cardboard boxes, they formed a rain-drenched circle of two dozen people. One place was empty--"Nick's seat," one student said through the red, white, and blue handkerchief tied around her head. The students stared into the center of the circle, where a sign was posted explaining their cause. They ignored the swarm of photographers who crept among them, looking up only to pass around three communal umbrellas, which they used in shifts to protect themselves from the unrelenting rain. The protesters--mostly members of De Genova's graduate seminar--planned the event for four o'clock so that it would coincide with the time when their class would have taken place had the professor been able to attend. De Genova was not present in class because he is currently "in hiding," one graduate student said. She added that "he and his wife are fearing for their lives" after receiving "over one thousand death threats by phone and e-mail" since making inflammatory comments during a teach-in on the war in Iraq last Wednesday. The graduate students also extended an invitation to participate to the undergraduates in De Genova's Latino History and Culture class when that class convened without its professor at 2:40 p.m. yesterday. After describing themselves as "unofficial advocates" who were informally conveying a message, the graduate students announced to the undergraduates that De Genova was not on campus and would not be holding class. Then they announced that they would be holding a silent protest. "We feel that the University has failed to protect Nick," anthropology graduate student Ayca Cubukcu said, defending her teacher, as she stood with two of her peers in front of the Latino history class. "As academics and intellectuals, we should be able to ... engage in dialogue about these issues. But we can't, because he's not here." "We feel silenced by Nick's absence," added one of the other graduate students. That silencing was symbolized, students said, by the flag-patterned kerchiefs that they used as metaphorical gags during the protest later that day. It was also seen in the group's decision not to speak with members of the press. But the students' conspicuous silence yesterday gave new voice to an idea that few have discussed since De Genova's talk last Wednesday--the idea that De Genova's remarks might be, as Cubukcu put it, "well within the limits of academic discourse." "Nick's comments were not taken seriously as an impassioned but perfectly normal ... academic expression," one student said. That position is still far from being widely supported by Columbia students. Rebekah Pazmiņo, CC '05, is enrolled in De Genova's undergraduate class and is also an officer-in-training in the Marines. Pazmiņo used De Genova's unmoderated classroom to respond to the three graduate students' suggestion that they were being silenced. "If you guys feel so silenced, what about those of us who are going into the military?" Pazmiņo asked. "When remarks like that are made, those of us who are on the other side also feel threatened." "Having to hear that, and having to be in this class, just really sucks," she said. Pazmiņo's remarks began a discussion of the content of the speech that De Genova gave at last week's teach-in. One of the graduate students present suggested that those remarks had been taken out of context. Billy Pratt, CC '03, is not enrolled in the Latino History and Culture class, but today he came to the classroom where it is normally held, intending to confront De Genova personally. Since reading coverage of the teach-in, Pratt has been an outspoken critic of the professor, contacting newspapers and talk shows with the intention of expressing his outrage publicly. After Cubukcu suggested that the University ought to physically protect De Genova, the tall, broad-shouldered Pratt stepped out from the doorway, where he had been pacing since 2:40, to challenge Cubukcu face-to-face. "Should they protect him?" Pratt asked. "Why should they protect him? ... He wants to kill my father, and I don't see them protecting my father." Launching into a tirade against De Genova and his defenders, Pratt edged closer and closer to the part of the room where Cubukcu and the other graduate students were standing. When they spoke, Pratt spoke louder. One student tried to close the classroom door in Pratt's face, but Pratt pushed it back open. The confrontation ended at 2:55, when a student representative from the anthropology department office came into the room with a "class cancelled" sign scrawled on white printer paper. "Hey, all," the student said casually. "Professor De Genova just called. He said his class won't be meeting today."
