- Mar 27, 2012
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Faculty members at Columbia University were seen blocking certain students and press from entering the school's anti-Israel encampment until police were called on Monday as thousands descended on the New York City campus.Good idea, but the local and state governments, as well as the NYPD brass and the university administration, are all in on it together. They funded, enabled, and encouraged this for decades.
This is truly the point where the chickens have come home to roost, and I, too, sincerely hope that Columbia burns to the ground.
Fox News Digital witnessed Avi Weinberg, an economics student at Columbia, leading a small group of his Jewish classmates all trying to enter the encampment on the South Lawn.
However, Columbia faculty, wearing orange high-visibility safety vests with taped "faculty" and "staff" labels on their backs, were seen locking arms as they patrolled who was allowed in.
"Students who have only slept here are allowed in," one woman told the group.
The woman got into a combative exchange with one of the students, insisting she knew who had and hadn't slept in the encampment and refused to let them in. The human chain of faculty then turned their backs to the students, who in turn called the police.
"We have to abide by university policy!" Weinberg shouted. "We should all be able to go on that lawn!"
Faculty refused to answer when asked why the students were not being let on the lawn. Members of the crowd suggested it was unfair that faculty were determining who could and could not go into the area when it is part of the university campus they pay to attend.
Fox News Digital was told that the outlet was not allowed inside, and only student press could access the gated lawn. A local ABC team and several independent reporters were also denied. However, Fox News Digital witnessed a documentary crew and a reporter from Al Jazeera reporting inside the area. Individuals who wore headscarves or waved Palestinian flags were seen moving freely between the encampment and the surrounding campus lawn throughout the day..
Fox News Digital's Nikolas Lanum, Joseph A. Wulfsohn, and Kira Mautone