Rutgers student takeover: #NoRice
Rutgets students protest Condoleezza Rice as commencement speaker
I tried to tell you, man....the '60s are coming back:
NEW BRUNSWICK — Rutgers University students are staging a sit-in at the Old Queens administration building in New Brunswick to protest the selection of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as commencement speaker.
About 50 students marched into the building this afternoon and refused to leave, according to student accounts posted on Twitter and other social media sites. Photos and videos of the protest show students lining the Old Queens staircase outside the doors leading to President Robert Barchi's outer office on the second floor.
Some students are holding signs protesting the choice of Rice to speak at commencement, including signs reading "No honors for war criminals," "War criminals out" and "RU 4 Humanity?"
OK, maybe the '60s aren't really coming back (sigh), but it's good to see some college students giving a damn about something besides their football coach or their out-of-control spring break party. To my mind, this is exactly in line with what we were talking about here last night: A complete breakdown of authority, and the need for the average citizens to get involved and seek accountability.
Look, I realize that what Condoleezza Rice did is lot more ideologically charged than police corruption, which everybody is pretty much against...right? And so there are probably some of you out there who don't have a problem with the United States invading another country halfway around the world on bogus pretenses, or with violating the laws on torture that we hypocritically expect other nations to uphold.
But other people -- including these kids, God bless them -- wonder the same things that I and maybe one or two of you also wonder, which is how in the hell did they get away with it? The most immoral administration in American history, and yet no one was punished? -- and then these colleges that invite the likes of John "Testicle Crusher" Yoo and Condoleezza "Nobody Could Have Predicted" Rice onto their campus to impart their "wisdom" to a new generation, which is like getting poked with a sharp stick. It's pretty clear by 2014 that no one is going to jail for the crimes of the Bush White House, which is appalling. But hopefully the knowledge that they are shunned by a civil society should be even worse. Well played, Rutgers.