California Conservative

Last week, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported: “Students protesting military recruiters disrupt UCSC job fair.” That puts it mildly. The Sentinel continues:

“UC Santa Cruz junior Jonathan Perez dressed in a suit and tie Tuesday, hoping to impress company recruiters at the campus job fair.

But more than 200 student anti-war protesters got there first, storming the Stevenson Event Center, shouting and banging on windows and demanding that military recruiters in the corner of the room leave.”

Liberal “tolerance” shows its true face…

Photos of the ruckus are here, here , here, and here.

The noisy sit-in ended after an hour of chaos and tension when military representatives vacated their posts. Student protesters hugged each other happily after administrators allowed them to hand out information on alternatives to military careers and agreed to a meeting to discuss future job fairs.

The school administration makes a big mistake by agreeing with the demands of protesters.

Barbara Bedford, director of UCSC’s Career Center, said UCSC complies with a 1995 federal law called the Solomon amendment, which denies federal funding to universities that bar military recruiters from campus.

One of the protest leaders contended UCSC should follow the lead of Harvard Law School, which banned military recruiters after a federal appeals court in Philadelphia invalidated the law. The U.S. Justice Department has announced plans to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thank you, Harvard.

UCSC administrators stepped up security at the job fair, hoping to avert a confrontation. Students had to present identification at the door and reporters asking to enter were screened.

That didn’t stop the student protesters. About 75 of them pushed their way in, carrying signs and a banner that said “Military Off Our Campus.” They chanted, “Racist, Sexist, Anti-Gay. Hey, recruiters, go away.”

Racist? Not. Military recruiting is equal opportunity. Sexist? Women serve in the military. Anti-Gay? What happened to “Don’t ask, don’t tell?” Liberals will always find reason to complain.

UCSC Police Capt. Nancy Carroll and other officers appeared in riot gear wearing protective helmets, but administrators sought a peaceful resolution, negotiating with protest leaders Nils McCune and Josh Sonnenfeld.

The sympathetic college administration makes another serious mistake by “negotiating” with protesters. It only encourages them and will embolden their actions next time. Especially since evidence shows that the students are being organized by a left-wing radical group, with the purpose of leading aggressive opposition to all issues that they find objectionable.

Regrettably, this story highlights yet another example of anti-establishment liberals forcing their will upon a college campus. It’s truly sad.

Only one kid gets it right by pointing out the irony:

“It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, that has given us the freedom to demonstrate,” said Adiofel Mark Mendoza, a sophomore from San Diego who came in his ROTC cadet uniform.

UPDATE: (4/11/06)
Michelle Malkin: “UC Santa Cruz Hates Our Troops”

RELATED: For more on liberal campus political antics, see Students Stage “Die-In”

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 10th, 2005 at 10:21 am and is filed under Academia, Activism, Liberals, Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.