In the aftermath, they shut down the “Black Princeton” group chat after messages were leaked to @abigailandwords and on Reddit: nationalreview.com/2024/05/the-sa…
As the encampment continued, they began a hunger strike:
They were not allowed to have tents, BTW, and public safety even took down a tarp they had strung up:
So they were forced to sleep under tarps on the ground, sometimes in the rain.
They made Blair Witch Project clips updating their status:
Meanwhile, they infamously complained that Princeton wasn’t checking their vitals even though they were shaking and immunocompromised:
They did have supporters, though. Several non-participant observer faculty at Princeton wrote letters and op-eds, while others joined the hunger strikers for a 24-hour fast:
It turned out to be a “rotary hunger strike” (probably after the original strikers saw the faculty go out for brunch on Saturday):
Finally, President Eisgruber said the encampment had to end and made some shameful concessions that were still totally unsatisfactory to the protestors.
When admin showed up the next day to discuss clearing the camp, the students put out a call for their fellow students to encircle the camp but no one came.
Today they announced the hunger strike is over, noting the university administration has “been forced to tone down their violent rhetoric.”
And while they have events planned for today, the encampment is expected to be shut down as the university plans for year-end activities.
Progressives continue to acknowledge the failure of their vision of immigration:
“Parts of the left have ignored a basic truth: The ability to control borders, to decide who does and does not come into a country, is central to a democracy. Without that ability, the citizens of a nation lose control over it.”
“Less affluent voters have questioned the impact of mass migration for years, worried about its impact on housing, public services, wages and communities. The response of urban progressives…has often been to denounce working-class voters as narrow-minded or racist.”
“The left has de-emphasized class in favor of other characteristics and alienated many working-class voters.”
“The starting point for a new progressive future can be the idea of a community that provides security and opportunity, and to which we owe as much as we expect from it.”
🧵I attended a not-for-attribution call yesterday about the situation inside Columbia.
The key takeaway is that a lot of people, probably a majority, are done with the protestors and the corrupt faculty who support them. They want change.
People just want to get back to teaching and researching. They know the cancelled grants are gone for good, but they want to get back on track ASAP so they can apply for new federal grants.
It is not lost on them that the funding cuts have hurt the science and medical divisions when all the humanities (plus social work, etc.).
The Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare pulled Columbia’s funding because it hadn’t provided sufficient evidence that it was not discriminating: