Stu Smith
🚨 Columbia Professor Says Campuses Should Develop Students’ “Political Consciousness,” Calls Hamilton Hall Takeover “Nonviolent,” and Blames “Far Right” Collaboration Columbia professor Sarah Haley at Socialism 2026 argues that campuses are not peripheral institutions, but “concentrations of wealth” and “power” that serve as sites for developing young people’s “political consciousness.” She says college has traditionally given students space for “political experimentation” before they enter the 9-to-5 workforce, and argues that universities are now shutting that down through protest zones and police intervention. Haley then describes the Hamilton Hall takeover as a “nonviolent occupation” and says the police response showed a “stark collaboration between university administrators and the far right.” Haley is essentially angry that universities are shutting down the very kind of political radicalization she sees campuses as uniquely suited to cultivate. And “collaboration with the far right” is doing a tremendous amount of work here. Many people would argue that Columbia spent years bending over backward for disruptive and at times violent student radicals.