Photo: AFP
The NYPD cleared occupying students out of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus Tuesday night. The police will still be a presence on the campus until at least graduation on May 17th, however. Meanwhile, Columbia is left to clean up the rubble left behind and figure out how to deal with the arrested students. New York city councilman Joe Borelli (R- 51ST) has a simple solution: expel them. Speaking on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, Borelli made it clear who he supported in the showdown when he declared, “I’m rooting for the Rangers, I’m rooting for the Knicks, I’m rooting for the Yankees, and now I’m rooting for the cops, okay; I’m a simple guy.”
“I just hope that it’s followed up with expulsions of the students,” Borelli told Berman and Riedel. “If those students are not expelled, then all of this has been a show, a charade, it was a waste of time, if there’s no consequences for them. I have to imagine, if you’re a junior at Columbia and you went to college for three and a half years and suddenly you got expelled, you would be, despite all your bluster and bravado, you would be pretty upset, and that has to happen, unfortunately.”
Borelli then pondered if higher education is providing any value for what the students are paying to call themselves educated. “I actually think the Republicans have been doing a good job highlighting the absurdity of Ivy League education, and this is just one of those things that adds to it. We’re talking about student debt, we have to resolve everyone’s debt- look at what you’re paying for. Look at what you’re paying for, and then consider going to Florida State, or Ol’ Miss, or CUNY or SUNY, where you can get a quality education for a fraction of the price.”
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