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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – I have no confidence whatsoever in UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and her dealings with campus protestors in Madison.
Last Wednesday she asked campus police, sheriffs deputies, and the State Patrol to clear the campus of demonstrators who’d been camping on the grounds. That very afternoon, as police left, the campers returned. It was a moment of incompetence.
Mnookin then said that she was open to negotiating with the protesters, but only after their tent city was taken down. She’s caved on that twice. There were negotiations on Thursday and again on Saturday. During Thursday’s talk, Mnookin reportedly said that she had no plans to call in the police again.
The protester’s demands are non-sensical. They call for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, something that University leadership cannot deliver. They call for more Palestinian students and professors to be allowed on campus. More radicals within the UW should be a non-starter. And they call on the UW to divest its endowment of companies that do business in Israel. Taking control of the University’s investments out of the hands of competent professionals and turning it over to radicals is folly.
When I was in college there was a push for schools to throw Coca-Cola off campus. Coke had holdings in South Africa. In our dining halls, soda fountains that dispensed Coke were replaced with Pepsi. Now I don’t think for a moment that switching brands of soda had anything to do with ending apartheid.
The campuses of the UW system belong to you and me. We fund them with our tax dollars. They are assets of our state. We should not let radicals take them over. Nor should be tolerate limp, ineffective campus leadership. Those who chant hate are outside the umbrella of free speech. They are making threats against their jewish classmates. Threats are not protected.
Clear the antisemites off campus. And don’t allow them to return.
Chris Conley
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