Naturally and rationally, the visions of student encampments at Columbia and other universities bring to mind the now distant memory of what happened in Tiananmen Square some three and a half decades ago. In April of 1989 students occupied Tiananmen Square to commemorate the death of Communist Party Secretary Hu Yaobang. An important leader in the reform movement at the time, he favored a more democratic China.
"Anyway, we are not proposing that the forces of law and order suppress the student protests violently. We are far too civilized for that. "
Perhaps, or perhaps we are not civilized enough for that.
Protest is one thing, terrorism is another.