Adults, not students, are America's problem
America is in knots over the foolishness — or worse — of its campus protesters. But it is adults who are making the biggest dunces of themselves. The role of grown-ups facing student unrest is to keep the peace without sacrificing rights. These include free speech and physical safety. The task requires principled consistency. In practice, adults from all walks — Republicans, Democrats, the media and university administrations — are exhibiting traits of hysteria and dogmatism they deplore in the young. It should come as no surprise that the protests are getting angrier.
Students have every right to protest even with speech that many of their peers find abhorrent. One person's outrage over the killing of thousands of civilians in Gaza might be another's call for the elimination of Jews from Israel. Some of the demonstrators consciously subscribe to a Hamas worldview that would wipe Israel off the map. At what point does anti-Zionism become antisemitism? The line is blurry. But most people — except those in charge apparently — can tell the difference between lawful protest and calls to violence.
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