The saga of the college protests to “support” Hamas and Palestine continues. Students (and others who have nothing to do with the college campus but who wouldn’t miss a good protest for anything) are “occupying” their campuses with their expensive tents, their demands the colleges divest themselves of any investments in Israel, and their expectations that they will not face any consequences for their actions. I wonder what they will do if the trend of colleges canceling graduation ceremonies, or all remaining classes for the rest of the semester, continues.

Of course, the reaction of some college administrations only reinforces their belief that they can do whatever they want without fear of negative consequences. The University of Texas initially said any students arrested earlier this week during their “occupation” would be charged with trespassing and would not be allowed back on campus except for academic purposes. Later, the administration changed its position and now says those very same students could access the campus for any reason they want After all, they don’t want these students “distracted during finals”. Oh, those poor babies. Let’s pat them on the head, make sure they have a clean nappy and send them off with a juice box and their class notes because they mustn’t be distracted in case they blow their finals.

But what about the other students? Those who feel threatened by the protests? Those who are distracted by the tents on the campus, the protesters getting in their faces, all the TV cameras and media-types invading the campus. The short answer is they don’t matter because they aren’t the ones being painted as the good guys in all this.