Wounded Iraq veteran jeered by Columbia University students.

[Kino74]

As a veteran of OEF, my blood pressure just shot through the roof.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/hero_unwelcome_Zi3u1fwtRpo87vXAiAQfSN

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

"Racist!" some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

"It doesn't matter how you feel about the war. It doesn't matter how you feel about fighting," said Maschek. "There are bad men out there plotting to kill you."

Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds. Maschek, who is studying economics, miraculously survived the insurgent attack in Kirkuk. In the hail of gunfire, he broke both legs and suffered wounds to his abdomen, arm and chest.

He enrolled last August at the Ivy League school, where an increasingly ugly battle is unfolding over the 42-year military ban there.

More than half of the students who spoke at the meeting -- the second of three hearings on the subject -- expressed opposition to ROTC's return. Many of the 200 students in the audience held anti-military placards with slogans such as, "1 in 3 female soldiers experiences sexual assault in the military."

The university has created a task force polling 10,000 students on the issue, but would not release the vote tally of the 1,300 who have already responded.

In 2005, when the university last voted to reject ROTC's return, it cited the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

That policy was overturned in December, but resistance remains.

"Transpeople are part of the Columbia community," said senior Sean Udell at the meeting, referring to the military's current ban on transgender soldiers.

Faculty members are divided.

"Universities should not be involved in military activities," Sociology Professor Emeritus Herbert Gans told The Post. "Columbia should come out against spending $300 billion a year on unnecessary wars."

A group of 34 faculty colleagues, including historian Kenneth Jackson and former Bloomberg adviser Esther Fuchs, plan to announce their support of ROTC tomorrow.

José Robledo, 30, a Columbia student who commutes to Fordham University for ROTC coursework, said he found the treatment of Maschek abhorrent.

"The anti-ROTC side has been disrespectful and loud. They hiss and they jeer," he said. "It's been to the detriment of the argument."

Our dear educated ignorant folks again. I rank this atrocious act right there with Yale accepting the Taliban's ex spokesman as a student AND Harvard accepting $20 million for an Islamic Studies Center from the Saudis who stone gays to death.

May God bless you Anthony Maschek for your sacrifice. You deserved better than that.

 

[some_goat]

Its times like these I wish we could take these ppl and put them in a country with a repressive order . Let them see all the freedoms they take for granted and maybe learn to appreciate those who actually sacrifice themselves for this nation . Lil commie bastards dont know how good they have it .

 

[SpeedRacer]

Bomb that ****ing school...

 

[charliepapa]

it occurs to me that the ignorant people at columbia or any other organization that is opposed to the military, shouldn't receive funds from the same government that supports their military. that would be sort of self-defeatist, wouldn't it; sort of like funding the *enemy*?

 

[jmcrawf1]

**** Columbia and the rest of the ivy league.

 

[themcfarland]

I am not surprised at the anti military attitude. I would choose another school and pick another battle worth fighting instead of trying to attend.. it is a waist of energy and time..

Hope he mends well and god speed..

 

[Pookie]

It seems to me Columbia no longer has any reason to shut out ROTC. We'll see...

 

[BlueFalcon-101]

I am a student and I don't even bother telling anyone that I am a veteran. I don't want to hear the opinion of some 20yr old "jelly-head" that has never been out of the country.
I served so they would have the right to be able to disagree. Their opinions are just based on what they know from the television (and video games) anyway.
I used to see poor kids like these outside of the gates of Ft. Campbell everyday on my way home

I believe one of the signs read "God blew up the space shuttle". Unbelievable.

 

[artabr]

Bomb that ****ing school...

There are quite a few institutes of higher learning () that follow the same tenet or belief.
The feds need to start denying & withholding all public funding to these schools.



Art

 

[Pookie]

I'm pretty sure those are signs from those crazy Westboro Baptists in Kansas, not Columbia. But, I remember my own return to school in the early Seventies... I didn't exactly advertise my hitch in the Navy, either.

 

[homeslice]

Mortifying.

 

[some_goat]

Im a student aswell and dont mind letting ppl know that im a vet . Just casual conversation not going around bragging about it . I welcome any controversy that comes my way if they want to get stupid . And the way i see it , they are to chicken **** to say anything one on one how they disapprove of the military in that tone and fashion . God this crap pisses me off .

I served so they would have the right to be able to disagree. Their opinions are just based on what they know from the television (and video games) anyway.

Thats one thing i like to remind the jelly heads of when they open their mouths .

 

[leVieux]

This has been going on for decades.

We must take our country back from the leftist statists !

leVieux

 

[03GeeTee]

sigh... Kids today

 

[Kraut]

I'd like to see a non-Ivy League school that has ROTC and a President/Dean with cajones offer him a full scholarship so he can tell Columbia to kiss his a$$.

 

[CEHollier]

Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do...

 

[Leonidas]

Any wonder that Pres. Balack Osambo "allegedly" attended Columbia, although no records exist to substantiate that.

 

[Cat]

it occurs to me that the ignorant people at columbia or any other organization that is opposed to the military, shouldn't receive funds from the same government that supports their military. that would be sort of self-defeatist, wouldn't it; sort of like funding the *enemy*?

THANK YOU!!!!!

I couldn't agree more!

 

[Pookie]

Aw, c'mon, it's bad enough without the Obama misdirect.

Jeez...

 

[Cat]

sigh... Kids today

Umm. You realize this is the school that hasn't quite left the 60s Vietnam protest era? Nothing new with Columbia.