By West Side Rag
The home of Columbia University’s Chief Operating Officer Cas Holloway was vandalized early Thursday morning, as first reported by NBC News.
The vandals splashed red paint across the entrance to his Brooklyn building, smashed the front door, released crickets into the lobby, and left a note with a noose on it.
“Since you became the Chief Operating Officer of Columbia University on January 30, 2024, you have done nothing but leave a trail of violence and destruction in your wake,” the note reads. “You stood by as the fascist NYPD beat students.”
There was also a fake “WANTED” poster left that depicted Holloway with devil ears.
“Did you enjoy our present? Did it make you uncomfortable?” the note continued. “What you felt was incomparable to the pain you made Columbia students feel when you signed off on their brutalization because they stood against the genocide of Palestinians.”
The poster also called for the school to “divest from all parts of the Israeli occupation entity.”
Multiple people quickly condemned the vandalism, including Democratic nominee for Assembly District 69 Micah Lasher.
“This is an abhorrent, criminal act that should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Lasher wrote on X. “Let no one come to understand this is an acceptable form of protest.”
The act of vandalism comes months after protests related to the Gaza War took over Columbia University’s Morningside Height’s campus, and just weeks before students are expected back on campus for the new school year.
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I believe August 26 is new student orientation at Columbia. Hopefully they have a good plan for how to deal with this stuff this year.
Absolutely disgusting and reprehensible behavior. Hard to believe anybody–no matter their political persuasion–thinks this is useful, appropriate or acceptable on any level whatsoever.
Holloway, for those with short memories, also orchestrated the NYPD raid on Occupy Wall Street in Fall 2011. He’s consistent if nothing else.
Still no word on discipline for that cop who fired his gun during the NYPD raid on Columbia?
What is wrong with enforcing law and order? As far as the “gunshot.,” that was a protester who reached for an officer’s gun, and it went accidently off and hit a wall. If anyone the protester should be charged.
Do you have a cite fir your claim “. protestor who reached for an officer’s gun”?
Why are there only upvotes on comments and no downvotes?
A downvote should include some justification for disagreement with the statement of the poster, hence, “Reply”. A simple downvote doesn’t advance the discussion.
An upvote should include some justification for agreement with the statement of the poster. A simple upvote doesn’t advance the discussion.
But an unsigned upvote does advance the discussion? That’s warped. The same rules should apply to both. Many people don’t have the time or confidence to comment. Make it simple and allow dissenters to register their view with a quick click. Many, if not most, other online publications with comment sections do this.
These are peace activists, right?
And, the folks who caused so much destruction are innocent, right? Gosh, when do we aim for civility again? Are we hoping to be civil when we disagree in the future? I will continue to hope.
Hamas is not innocent of anything.
I think BF was being sarcastic.
They should have shut the protests down day 1. You don’t like the school’s policies find another school. With a 6%acceptance rate you won’t be missed.
Sad how the schools in NYC are so lax in dealing with this when schools in the South, UGA for instance, are harsh. UGA announced today the 6 – count them 6 protestors in total – will continue to be suspended for 2024.
Whoever did that they’re going fine and they’re going to catch him/her. The red paint can is great evidence!!
This will be an easy one to catch … fingerprints off the can and track that paint color paint to where that store is by who The seller sold that brand of paint, when it was sold at and by checking all the security cameras. New York Detective saying this is an easy catch.!
This is academic freedom for you.
When you accept small acts of violence, it will escalate.
I think it’s naive to jump to the conclusion that this violent act of vandalism was committed by student protestors. The students encamped at Columbia were abetted by outsiders who stood on the sidelines yelling encouragement. Whether or not one agrees with the cause, civil disobedience takes courage and commitment; breaking windows and throwing paint is mere terrorism.
Almost all forms of protest are acceptable. Including this, in my book. If you choose defending genocide over listening to students, you aren’t a decent person.
Thank you. Restored my faith in humanity. Some on this board deplore “small acts of violence.” How about the solipsistic acts of violence, such as trying to rub out an entire people? Red paint or smashing a glass window is not as abhorrent an act of violence such as blowing up children, or raping and torturing prisoners.
Our taxes are paying for this pillage!
I’m sure this response will be censured on this site.
This behavior is not acceptable.
No one here defends genocide. Some of us actually know what the word means.
This is a direct result of Columbia’s leniency. When “protestors” trespassed the campus, they should have been arrested immediately and their encampments confiscated. There is a general feeling of “but if i’m doing it for speech, I can’t do whatever I want”. No, you can’t. There are rules, there are laws, and when you give an inch they take a foot. Enforce rules, enforce laws, let’s teach these kids how to be ADULTS. Isn’t that Columbia’s job?
Throw these people in jail. They are not students. Violence by anyone should not be tolerated.
These vandals proved only that they embrace terrorist mafia tactics and celebrate violence and intimidation. Shame on them. Reprehensible behavior that stands for NOTHING and NO ONE, only for bullying.
Unacceptable form of protest. This is, in itself exactly what these protesters are fighting against. Terrorization,, destruction, hate.
This act is so blatantly brazen that it could actually be perpetrated by activists who are opposed to the campus protesters posing as people sympathetic to them. We are seeing a lot more of that nowadays than in the past.
Really? A false flag operation? That’s some real CIA stuff!
They did the same thing to the President of the Brooklyn Museum. Just wait until classes start later this month. It’s going to be a nightmare.
I hope Kamala is prepping for the attacks on her, and prepping a response to the activists/small-time terrorists that are going to be taking over campuses all over the country come September. They are “gunning” for her. Should she be “tough” on destroyers of property and sadistic perpetrators (“Did you like our present?”) of vandalism. or conciliatory? I can see it spiraling – and the National Guard being called in to quell the violence on campus – think Kent State – but also worried about the escalating violence against anybody who doesn’t think in lock step with these “only a single thought can fit in my head at one time” idiots.
I guarantee that 99% of the people who throw around the term “fascist” to describe their political enemies couldn’t actually define the word.
Protest yes! We live in a democracy. To express one’s protest with threatening, violent acts and hiding behind them only shows a miserable, weak , immature character. No civil courage, the best and most secure when in a group….The need for communicating and exchange strongly needs be fed. And yes, for one’s protest/action one has to take responsibility. Otherwise: what does protest mean?
Nobody wants anyone to die, Palestinians and Israelis alike; however, to call what Israel is doing in Gaza, ground zero of Hamas’s plan to destroy Israel and murder Jews the world over — both in their charter — is disgusting and a patent lie. It’s certainly not genocide: The Holocaust was genocide; the 1918 Ottoman slaughter and conversion of Armenians was genocide; the 1994 Rwandan killing of Tutsis by Hutus was genocide. These college protesters should educate themselves on Mideast history.
In reply to earlier comment , the police officer fired the gun — no protester role or interference according to NYPD and DA’s office.
See this excerpt from The New York Times:
“The sergeant had broken the glass of a locked office on the first floor of the building and switched his firearm — a 9-millimeter handgun with a flashlight mounted on it — from his right hand to his left hand to reach through the broken glass to unlock the door from the inside, said Carlos Valdez, assistant chief of the Emergency Services Unit.
As he switched hands, the gun went off. The bullet traveled through the glass, hit a frame of a wall and landed on the floor, the police said.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/nyregion/nypd-columbia-shooting-hamilton.html
I have inside information that is aligned with this account. It was a stupid mistake. It should not have happened. Better training is in order.