Columbia Leaves the NYPD Hanging

As outrage continued to percolate up at Morningside Heights, and all over the city, because of a heinous hate crime, Columbia sat on possible evidence until, as the NY Daily News reports this morning, it eventually released potentially incriminating videotapes that it had held, citing "privacy" concerns.

Once again, when it comes to any question where the university's private issues might potentially conflict with the public interest, Columbia's first instinct is to protect it's own interests first. As the NY Post editorializes this morning: "Teachers College administrators' refusal to tender voluntary assistance to the NYPD in this matter is inexplicable. At best, it shows yet again the contempt Columbia University as a whole has for the community in which it resides, and into which it seeks to expand."

It's all Columbia, all of the time. And it's high time for the area's elected officials to hold the university's feet to the fire and insist that it come up with a good deal more concrete benefits for the surrounding community it wants to expand into. Enough of this institutional narcissism!