In his masterpiece Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark, a 13-part television series, Mr. Clark stands in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral and says, essentially, that if even one cannot define civilization, one knows it when one sees it. He could have easily stood in front of the Imperial Palace in Japan, the Opera House in Sydney, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, or Corcovado in Rio — for when we see something that mankind has built, something which requires both creativity, struggle, and, indeed, human genius, we know that it represents civilization in all its flaws and grandeur.
In the past few days, we have all seen students and others assaulted and even tasered, windows broken, classes and graduations canceled, and sheer hate against fellow humans based simply upon their religion and/or race. These actions are in violation of not only University Codes of Conduct but also state and Federal laws, and, of course, the Constitutional rights of the persons against whom these “protesters” seek to bar from University campuses.
At a minimum, these spoiled and ignorant undergraduates should be arrested and, indeed, expelled and not merely suspended. Faculty who have joined them in their hate and the accompanying attempts to shut down learning should similarly be arrested if they have violated the law and then fired. This should occur after a public and televised hearing, not only to preserve the right to due process but also so that we may see what each individual has done to set back civilization and take us back in time to a more brutal, selfish, and hate-filled past.
No University can survive as a University with students who call for the genocide of the Jewish people, support Hamas and its rape of women and murder of children in front of their parents (and vice versa), and, indeed, who seem oblivious to the fact that their fellow Americans are still being held hostage by Hamas.
Indeed, no civilization can withstand such actions unless they are condemned in the strongest terms.
The rejoinder, of course, is that within the hate and fascist attempts to shut down other people’s points of view, there is some sort of “point” being made — a claim belied by the fact that no one should listen to anyone who attempts to occupy the public square to the exclusion of other voices. In our common law tradition, the concept of forfeiture is relevant to both the relinquishment of rights and the concept of equity. Anyone attacking civilization forfeits any chance to change our mind.
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