UC Santa Cruz students: meet the butt-end of my M-16

[magellan01]

This just in via the San Francisco Chronicle.

Four military recruiters hastily fled a job fair Tuesday morning at UC Santa Cruz after a raucous crowd of student protesters blocked an entrance to the building where the Army and National Guard had set up information tables.

Members of Students Against War, who organized the counter-recruiting protest, loudly chanted “Don’t come back. Don’t come back” as the recruiters left the hilltop campus, escorted by several university police officers.

The left of Mao spoiled brats took a break from their surfing to block military recruiters from the campus and chase them off. No doubt this issue has been debated here before, but these poeple cannot be slapped enough.

WTF? These kids are in college, where they are supposed to have open minds. These are the same people who preach tolerance and hold the 1st Amendment up as holy. Yet they don’t allow a government arm that the Supreme Court has said is allowed on campuses to even speak, or set up their desks so fellow students who might be interested about a career in the military can get information? What a bunch of scumbags.

You fucking arrogant, self-righteous hypocritical punks. You are not fit to shine the boots of someone who has chosen to serve this country and put themselves in harms way. You mobs of bullies, who alone would just be pathetic little pussies, need a good, old-fashioned ass kicking. Why don’t you go to a nearby miltary base and find the bar where these guys hang out and spew your invective at them then?

Yes, because you are a bunch of unprincipled hypocritical pansies.

And now to you, David Kliger, Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, you knew this was coming and even claimed you wanted to stop it:

David Kliger, campus provost and executive vice chancellor, said the school was most concerned Tuesday about safety issues, but also wanted to preserve access to the recruiters for students who wanted to speak with them, while still allowing protesting students their right to free speech.

Bullshit. You say you even tried (through officials) to engage the anti-war student group in discussions the week before. But when the talks broke down (which shows that you’re either a liar or an even bigger pussy than those spoiled brats) you decided to bring in extra police.

Now here’s where you show to be just a plain old incompetent fuck. This same thing happened last year, and included 300 students. So you were obstensibly going to prepare for that, or worse. But rain came and actually only 100 students showed up. Yet, the beefed up security presence you had was still overwhelmed to the point that they recruiters had to be escorted off campus. It was, at most, a third the size that you were expectiing, you had a heightened sense of urgency, and you still failed. What an incompetent fuck. And that goes for anyone else you may have delegated your responsibilties to.

So to the whole lot of you, slit your wrists because the military is so awful, wipe the blood all over your body and go for a nice surf. You’ll no doubt make better chum than you do people.

And Mr. Police Captain, it is your job to make sure that the recruiters, who have a right to be there, can actually be there. It is your job to hurry off the transgressors who would interfere with their right. Hurry them off with a nice shove to the ground, handcuffed and carted off to jail. (Or the Pacific. See above.) So I pit you to, as just another incompetent fuck.

[treis]

This pit is a complete misrepresentation of the administration’s actions in this situation. The talks broke down, and the adminsitration brought in more police. A perfectly reasonable response to the threat of a protest. Up to this point you were fine. However, then you said the security was overwhelmed, which there is no evidence that it was. What happened was the recruiters sensed the students were looking for trouble, and decided to pack up and leave before it occured. There is no evidence that the security couldn’t have engaged in an old fashioned hippie beat down. Rather, the recruiters decided that they didn’t want an old fashioned hippie beat down to occur, so they left.

[Otto]

If the big bad soldiers can’t stand up to a few itty-bitty civilian protestors, that doesn’t really speak very well of the backbone the Army’s supposed to instill now does it.

As much as you’d like to pretend that this protest was somehow counter to the spirit of the First Amendment, it doesn’t wash. But I do note your phony-baloney invocation of the “tolerance” shibboleth, the newest word to fall victim to right-wing perversion.

[Kyla]

What I want to know is why the military even bothered - it strikes me as very unlikely that they would even get enough recruits to make it worth their while.

-UCSC grad (Oakes class of '00)

[Syntropy]

Oh, NOES!! The college students didn’t like the recruiters? And SAID SO??? COMMIES!! How dare they exercise their constitutional rights!

[Jackmannii]

@magellan01

What a bunch of scumbags.

Banana slugs, actually.

[BrainGlutton]

@magellan01

The left of Mao spoiled brats took a break from their surfing to block military recruiters from the campus and chase them off. No doubt this issue has been debated here before, but these poeple cannot be slapped enough.

What? They’re against the war so they’re trying to monkeywrench the system, just like protestors who tried to block access to Army induction centers back in the '60s. If it was worth doing then (and it was!), why isn’t it worth doing now?

[DiosaBellissima]

@Otto

If the big bad soldiers can’t stand up to a few itty-bitty civilian protestors, that doesn’t really speak very well of the backbone the Army’s supposed to instill now does it.
As much as you’d like to pretend that this protest was somehow counter to the spirit of the First Amendment, it doesn’t wash. But I do note your phony-baloney invocation of the “tolerance” shibboleth, the newest word to fall victim to right-wing perversion.

Emphasis mine.

Right, so then we can have a big ole nice Pit Thread titled “FUCKING MILITARY RECRUITERS! WHY DO YOU HATE FREEDOM AND STUDENTS?!?”

The fact is, some college students may want to enlist- it isn’t exactly a bad option. I have an inordinate amount of friends in the military (so perhaps I am biased) and not a single one of them was tricked by a shady recruiter into thinking it would be sunshine and rainbows. I see in all of my friends a huge improvement in themselves that they could have never gotten in the civilian life. Of course, this is all anecdotal

Look, those kids had a right to protest, but they didn’t have a right to scare away/ or physically block kids who actually might have wanted to look into the military. And honestly, it seems like it would have been more productive to pass out fliers explaining why the military is a bad choice, rather than just causing a big scene.

[magellan01]

@Otto

If the big bad soldiers can’t stand up to a few itty-bitty civilian protestors, that doesn’t really speak very well of the backbone the Army’s supposed to instill now does it.

As much as you’d like to pretend that this protest was somehow counter to the spirit of the First Amendment, it doesn’t wash. But I do note your phony-baloney invocation of the “tolerance” shibboleth, the newest word to fall victim to right-wing perversion.

There are other students there who have more conservative views. One was talked about in the article. Why is it not correct the categorize the group’s self-righteous hate of the military as intolerant of the beliefs of fellow students? Too bad you can’t own a word, huh?

And as far as who can stand up to who, there was that little rendevous in a bar that I recommended.

[Lama_Pacos]

And honestly, it seems like it would have been more productive to pass out fliers explaining why the military is a bad choice, rather than just causing a big scene.

Actually, what they did seems pretty productive towards their goals since the rally, uh, you know, worked.

[magellan01]

@BrainGlutton

What? They’re against the war so they’re trying to monkeywrench the system, just like protestors who tried to block access to Army induction centers back in the '60s. If it was worth doing then (and it was!), why isn’t it worth doing now?

Whether or not I agree with the actions in the 60s aside, there is one HUGE difference. The ones joing today are doing so by choice. Kind of a big differecne, don’t you think?

And before you parade out the “oh, but these poor kids don’t have any options”, keep in mind we’re talking about college, and UC Santa Cruz specifically.

[Airman_Doors_USAF]

@Otto

If the big bad soldiers can’t stand up to a few itty-bitty civilian protestors, that doesn’t really speak very well of the backbone the Army’s supposed to instill now does it.

As much as you’d like to pretend that this protest was somehow counter to the spirit of the First Amendment, it doesn’t wash. But I do note your phony-baloney invocation of the “tolerance” shibboleth, the newest word to fall victim to right-wing perversion.

Would you prefer that they show that backbone by standing their ground and defending themselves by cracking some students all over the campus?

Frankly, I think it took more backbone to leave rather than letting them come to them and getting into it.

[Mr.Moto]

If UC Santa Cruz can’t ensure that students who want to speak to military recruiters can do so without being hassled, then UC Santa Cruz ought to see how well they can manage next year without about $80 million in federal money.

The Solomon Amendment is federal law, just affirmed unanimously by the Supreme Court. This seems like a good use of it.

[magellan01]

@Kyla

What I want to know is why the military even bothered - it strikes me as very unlikely that they would even get enough recruits to make it worth their while.

-UCSC grad (Oakes class of '00)

Well, there was art least one, evidently.

[Fionn]

@Otto

If the big bad soldiers can’t stand up to a few itty-bitty civilian protestors, that doesn’t really speak very well of the backbone the Army’s supposed to instill now does it.

This is similar to what occurred to me when reading the OP’s rant. If a student’s desire to enlist is completely and utterly foiled by the presence of protesting college students at a career fair, he or she might not be cut out for life in the military.

[magellan01]

@Maureen

Oh, NOES!! The college students didn’t like the recruiters? And SAID SO??? COMMIES!! How dare they exercise their constitutional rights!

Don’t you think that there’s room between protesting to make sure they are heard and doing so to the degree that another group that has just as much right as they do to be heard has to leave in order to avoid the outbreaak of violence? :rolleyes:

[Monty]

Otto,

In case you’ve never noticed it, military recruiters don’t show up garbed in riot gear.

[BrainGlutton]

@magellan01

Don’t you think that there’s room between protesting to make sure they are heard and doing so to the degree that another group that has just as much right as they do to be heard has to leave in order to avoid the outbreaak of violence? :rolleyes:

That depends on the aim of the protest. If you’re trying to monkeywrench the system, making the recruiters leave is the only criterion for success.

[Snooooopy]

Slashing the recruiters’ tires seems counterproductive – if you want them to go AWAY, why make it harder for them to do so?

[treis]

@Mr. Moto

If UC Santa Cruz can’t ensure that students who want to speak to military recruiters can do so without being hassled, then UC Santa Cruz ought to see how well they can manage next year without about $80 million in federal money.

The Solomon Amendment is federal law, just affirmed unanimously by the Supreme Court. This seems like a good use of it.

Hello? Is this thing on? The administration provided extra police, and there is no evidence what so ever that the recruiters or those wishing to speak to them were in any danger. The students had apparently escalated the situation to where skulls were in danger of being cracked. At that point the recruiters decided to leave instead of having a confrontation unfold.