College campuses reap the results of dithering during protests | PHIL WILLIAMS
There’s an age-old saying: “Bad news doesn’t get better with time.” So true. Things you don’t want to deal with often get worse simply by not dealing with them.
We are watching that old saying play out in real time on college campuses all over the nation.
To be sure, there are times when a tactical pause may be necessary on the battlefield. Sometimes, a moment to catch your breath and regroup is beneficial. Patience and deliberate action behind the scenes may lay the conditions for success.
But when life, limb and property are threatened, delayed action is usually based on pearl-clutching and hand-wringing. Crisis is never avoided by dithering. Yet that’s exactly what is happening as student activists and outside agitators take over campus grounds and facilities.
Keep in mind that many of these protest sites are state-funded institutions, paid for with taxpayer dollars. The amount of physical damage thus far at Portland State University, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Columbia University, and more, stretches into millions of dollars. Then there’s the lost time and productivity, the lost education paid for but not received, and the cost to local and state law enforcement who had to divert resources to respond. The cost of inactivity by campus administrators is staggering.
Why? Why take so long? I submit that people in charge of these institutions often have no real leadership experience. They have long careers in tenured academia, but they’ve never run a business, led troops, or scratched out a living in a competitive environment. We are seeing the consequences of their inexperience.
Again, bad news does not get better with time. When the enemy is allowed to dig in, fortify, organize, and regroup, the enemy then becomes entrenched and victory becomes more costly.
At the U.S. Army Maneuver Center they teach infantry and armor students the art of war. Decision-making and leadership in times of duress require knowledge of both the attack and the counterattack.
Soldiers in the U.S. Army learn the means and methods of the counterattack on an enemy who has just taken of their own ground since it’s a given that the enemy will have a say on the battlefield. The doctrinal statement for the timing of a counterattack says, “to be decisive, the counterattack occurs when the enemy is overextended, dispersed and disorganized during his attack.”
Translation: When the enemy takes some of your ground, the best time to counterattack is before the enemy has had time to settle in. Immediate and decisive action is best while they are still winded, before they build fortifications and bring in reinforcements. Don’t dither, don’t clutch your pearls, don’t wring your hands. Assess your troops, make your plan, spot the enemy’s weak point, counter their efforts.
The campuses that have sustained the most damage did not do that. Protesters took over whole buildings, brought in supplies, set up tents, and organized themselves. Outside agitators reinforced their ranks. The occupiers’ mood became more rancorous. They began making demands, expecting their ultimatums to be followed. They took what wasn’t theirs and no one stopped them. They dug in. The administrations dithered.
But when decisions are delayed unnecessarily, it is more than just educational inconveniences and property damage that occurs. People get hurt. At UCLA, the damage has been epic.
But less known is the fact that a large group of counter-protesters showed up. They were incensed that these anti-American property-damaging punks were being allowed to continue their anti-American property-damaging actions unabated.
The police were nowhere to be found. The administration was busy worrying. In the absence of battlefield leadership, things got out of hand and escalated into a physical fight. Protesters met vigilantes in the vacuum of leadership. In the case of UCLA, that vacuum was filled for a while with people who had just had enough and took matters into their own hands.
Dithering begat lawlessness which begat violence. It’s what happens when pearl-clutching and hand-wringing are the order of the day.
But not everywhere. Not in every state. The University of Florida made short work of protests on the Gainesville campus. Protesters took ground, and Florida counterattacked, saying that UF “is not a day care.” Imagine that.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued a no-nonsense statement that put the protest world on notice, saying, “I am aware of today’s scheduled protest on the campus of Ole Miss. Mississippi law enforcement is also aware. And they are prepared. Campus police, city, county, and state assets are being deployed and coordinated. We will offer a unified response with one mission: Peaceful protests are allowed and protected — no matter how outrageous those protesters views may seem to some of us. But unlawful behavior will not be tolerated. It will be dealt with accordingly. Law and order will be maintained.”
Leadership. And on the campus of Ole Miss, knowing that they had the backing of their governor, a host of students showed up and sang the national anthem so loud that the pro-Palestinian protesters couldn’t even be heard.
Good people just want to know that law and order will be the rule of the day. They want to know that their leadership will not abandon them to the thugs, punks and agitators who have no mission in life other than to claim to be victims while victimizing others.
Dithering leads to damage. Hand-wringing leads to hard knocks. Pearl-clutching leads to public humiliation.
The time for counterattack begins immediately. Bad news does not get better with time.
Phil Williams is a former state senator from District 10 (which includes Etowah County), retired Army colonel and combat veteran, and a practicing attorney. He previously served with the leadership of the Alabama Policy Institute in Birmingham. He currently hosts the conservative news/talk show Rightside Radio on multiple channels throughout north Alabama. The opinions expressed are his own.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Some college leaders fail to lead during protests | PHIL WILLIAMS
