GEITNER SIMMONS writes about the Chris Hedges scandal:

Sure, it’s a good thing, in one sense, that knee-jerk anti-American critics are being made aware of the breadth of opposition to their poorly constructed arguments in the post-9/11 era. But shouting down left-wing campus speakers today smacks too much of the campus left’s proto-PC actions of the ’80s. I had the same reaction when a New York Sun editorial unwisely equated the antiwar march in NYC a few months ago with treason. And when students at that Canadian university used violence last year to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking on their campus.

Yes, and there’s clearly a certain joy-in-payback aspect to all of this. But I think that Geitner’s right that this shouldn’t go too far. At the same time, it’s not fair to expect students to exercise self-restraint and show proper behavior if administrators and speakers are unwilling to do the same. It was a colossal mistake to book Hedges, and the speech he gave was insulting — not to mention self-indulgent, pompous, ignorant, and lame. We should expect the students to behave, but we should also expect the universities not to presume too much on their good behavior.