License to Riot

Power Line has a followup on Wednesday's disgraceful assault on free speech at Columbia University. Incredibly, according to the New York Sun, university administrators are blaming the speakers for inciting the incident:

It only gets worse. After letting the perpetrators escape, university administrators had the gall to berate the president of Columbia's College Republicans, Christopher Kulawik, for allowing his guests to infuriate the crowd, according to Mr. Kulawik. In other words, despite formally nodding to the value of free speech, Columbia is effectively blaming the victim for inciting the chaos. "It's a horrible feeling to know your peers are willing to resort to violence when they disagree with you," Mr. Kulawik told our Eliana Johnson. Yet Mr. Kulawik's peers could be forgiven for thinking they'd get away with it, given their school's troubled history on free speech.


Apparently, Columbia believes that you're permitted to riot if a speaker says something you don't agree with, at least if you're part of the politically correct left.