Student activism is an art form that signals an urgent, heartfelt need to communicate the empathy felt about an issue at hand. That is what I believe I took part in back in 1968, and it is what I see in the student activists today.
It is past time for the University not only to forgive but also to embrace those who took a stand 40 years ago—a stand against Columbia’s ties to a military think tank that did research for the Vietnam War effort and a stand against the University’s land grab in Morningside Park.