Last week at Columbia University, members of the International Socialist Organization and other student groups violently rushed the stage during a speech by Jim Gilchrist of the Minuteman Project. This is the same university that employs this year’s Nobel Prize winner in economics. They are obviously capable of intelligent endeavor.

In a rare moment of honesty, an International Socialist member who was too cowardly to be identified said, “It [the protest and rushing of the stage] was fundamentally a part of free speech. The Minutemen are not a legitimate part of the debate on immigration.” Words fail to convey the absurdity of this position, to at one instant wrap oneself in the shroud of Free Speech while at the same time insisting that dissenting points of view cannot be presented. It is a rather delicious bit of unintentional irony.

The fact is, this kind of behavior is an outgrowth of what the University environment has become. Few people discuss and debate opposing points of view, they simply sneer in elitist condescension at opposing points of view. See, if the other side was enlightened, they’d know what we’re talking about. There are only two parts of a debate, the enlightened elite and the uneducated rubes. While this has generally been a left-to-right dynamic, those on the right seem to be perfectly willing to return the favor.

The result is masses of activists stirred up with a fervor that rivals all the accusations of the “blind faith” of the religious. It is where the ad hominem is the first step in a disagreement. It is only natural that acts of violence flow from this mindless conformity to unquestioned ideas. The University, once the first and best place for the free exchange of ideas, has become the worst place for such a debate.

This is not a problem particular to Columbia; even the University of Illinois in Champaign (not commonly thought of as a liberal bastion) has had issues like this occur. In 2004, a group of protestors engaged in a violent occupation of the campus’ administration building. Such antics are not atypical for a campus environment. They are so convinced of their causes; they feel they don’t have to bother with intelligent discussion. Such is the disposition of a revolutionary.

The latest incident at Columbia should be a wake up call to universities everywhere. Either we return to the free exchange of ideas principle on campus or these acts of violence will continue and escalate.

John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a columnist for the Daily Illini and blogs at Part-Time Pundit deep from the corn fields of Illinois. He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.

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