Topic: University Police

Pro-Palestine demonstrations at the University of Amsterdam have escalated into blockades of city canals using furniture and bricks. Students and staff are demanding the university cut ties with Israeli academic institutions. The protests have led to violent confrontations with police, who are accused of using heavy-handed tactics to clear encampments.

Student solidarity encampments for Gaza have spread to George Washington University and Columbia University, leading to suspensions and arrests. While some institutions like UC Berkeley have allowed protests to continue without police intervention, others have seen escalations that critics attribute to inexperienced university management and outside agitators.

The murder rate in Austin has reportedly increased by 50% following a $149 million police budget cut. A recent triple homicide involving a black police officer who killed his daughter and her boyfriend is cited as a story the media downplayed due to the race of the shooter.

Two Native American teenagers on a campus tour at Colorado State University were stopped and patted down by police after a parent on the tour reported them for being "too quiet" and wearing "strange clothing." The university president later apologized, stating that the boys were racially profiled. The school offered the family a "VIP tour," which they have yet to accept.

A Harvard study led by Roland Fryer found no racial bias in officer-involved shootings, though it did find bias in lower-level uses of force. Media figures like Thom Hartmann and MSNBC analysts are criticized for dismissing the quantitative data in favor of "common sense" and viral videos. The hosts discuss the difference between qualitative and quantitative analysis in academic research.

A Harvard University study conducted by economist Roland Fryer found no evidence of racial bias in police-involved shootings, though it did find bias in lower-level uses of force. MSNBC commentators expressed difficulty accepting the findings, stating they did not "comport with the reality" seen on television. The hosts highlight this as a disconnect between data-driven facts and media-driven narratives.

The hosts debate the jurisdiction of university police versus city police in Waco, Texas, regarding the Baylor scandal. They suggest the focus on campus sexual assault is part of a broader "assault on the university system" involving safe spaces and student protests. A theory is mentioned from the Cold War era suggesting that infecting universities is a method to bring a country to its knees.

A video from the University of Texas at Austin shows a police officer trainee issuing a citation for "disorderly conduct" to a man for using offensive language near a sorority. The officer claims his job is to ensure students are not offended, sparking a discussion on the erosion of First Amendment protections for offensive but legal speech.

Law professor Alan Dershowitz is criticized for advising students on CNN to waive their constitutional rights when confronted by police. The segment references the Sandra Bland case in Texas, where a traffic stop for a failure to signal escalated into an arrest. Dershowitz argues that being "contemptuous" toward officers, particularly for African Americans, leads to dangerous outcomes in a racist society.

A listener in Colorado reports that police and students from CSU are going door-to-door handing out decks of playing cards featuring city ordinances. The cards list fines for "nuisance gatherings" and noise violations, which the hosts compare to the Iraqi "most wanted" playing cards.