Wednesday April 17, 5.10am: On waking up, I turn to the student-run Columbia Daily Spectator, my go-to source for campus coverage. It has just posted a story about a new encampment on the South Lawn. University president Minouche Shafik is due to testify later this morning in Washington before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce: campus has been ID-entry only since the start of the week. When it gets light, I walk over and see that about 30 small tents have sprouted in front of the library. A sign declares the east section of the South Lawn a Liberated Zone. I head off for breakfast wondering what the day holds.
Great American universities such as Columbia are world leaders and repositories of extraordinary learning. But trouble has been brewing at home for some time. Despite the diversity of views that exists at Columbia and elsewhere, they are seen in many quarters as strongholds of liberal views. With the culture wars heating up, it was only a matter of time before they too became embroiled.