The only danger at the FIT protest was the NYPD
Manhattan: As I was heading home on Tuesday night, I witnessed the NYPD’s dramatic and disproportionate response to the peaceful student-led protests that have been happening on the Fashion Institute of Technology’s campus for weeks.
I was proud of the behavior of the students and shocked at the tactics of the cops. There were hundreds of police — nightsticks out, helmets on, shields down, carrying zip ties. At one point, cops with bicycles used them to force students and myself back onto the sidewalk at W. 28th St. without warning.
This has been a peaceful protest led by students for weeks. It was the NYPD that was aggressive and provocative throughout. I don’t know why FIT would put their students in danger of being beat up or arrested by the police like this. It has nothing to do with education. As the blue sign above the former encampment states, FIT serves unconventional minds. On Wednesday morning, after menacing and arresting students for hours, they were power-washing the space students had peacefully occupied.
W. 27th St. between Seventh and Eighth Aves. is one of my favorite streets in all of New York City. The students of FIT are always full of energy and vigor on this part of their campus. FIT public safety always has a presence. The administrators of the school let their students down on Tuesday night and betrayed their mission to educate unconventional minds. They should be ashamed. FIT’s students should be proud. Jim Behrle
B&E
Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Those who broke into campus buildings and committed a crime therein are burglars. Burglary is a felony, punishable by a year or more in prison. Let us see if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg puts on his big-boy pants and charges these felons with said crime. Will he use the same enthusiasm he had for prosecuting Donald Trump? History says no way. Peter McKenna
Enlist
St. Albans: Before you go out to protest for the Palestinians and your universities to divest from Israel, many of you should forfeit all money from loans from federal and state taxpayers and altruistic alumni. You have benefited from the investments of these institutions. They granted you the funds required to attend these universities — money that your labor, diligence and intellect couldn’t produce — for dreams of a prestigious university and an upper-class lifestyle in America. If you refuse to make restitution, you are a hypocrite. If you decide to make a repayment but find the amount daunting, there is a job that offers prestige and honor and upholds the Constitution: The military that is daily prepared to defend all of you from acts of terrorism and terrorists such as Hamas. Patricia Singletary
Stopping short?
White Plains, N.Y.: I don’t understand why President Biden doesn’t want Israel to do everything it can to defeat Hamas once and for all so they no longer govern Gaza and no longer are a threat to Israel. In my opinion, the only ceasefire that makes sense is one in which Hamas releases all the hostages. Joan Cocurullo
Aid stunt
Astoria: Wait — they impeached the last guy for withholding approved aid because he wanted the ally to look into corruption. Now this guy is withholding approved aid to an ally because he wants votes. Hey, Nancy Pelosi, hey Dems, what is going on? What about “no one is above the law”? Sounds like impeachment time. Tim Austin
Proxy fights
Ormond Beach, Fla.: Neither U.S. nor Israeli interests are served by the Biden administration’s decision to allow the passage of a UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza without first requiring Hamas to release the hostages it has held for seven months. Any U.S. attempts to prevent, delay or complicate Israeli operations will neither hasten the war’s end nor bring peace, but only serve to prolong the conflict and the suffering of the Palestinians. Hamas and Hezbollah attacking Israel, Iraqi militias launching drones at U.S. troops, the Houthis firing missiles at international shipping, and Russia bombarding Ukraine are all part of one threat network supplied by Iran. Abandoning Israel to pander to Biden’s Muslim constituency in the coming election will only embolden Russia and Iran to continue attacks against the U.S. and our allies. Charles Michael Sitero
Saturated sweets
Brooklyn: Obesity and food addiction is a worldwide disease. Food, cakes, candy and soda advertising is overwhelming on TV. Why doesn’t our government recognize the health hazards of these constant visual food images and consumption and apply the same advertising restrictions as it does for alcohol advertising to the food industry? Marie Walsh
Border bungler
Manalapan, N.J.: It irks me that conservatives blame Biden for the ongoing border crisis but fail to acknowledge Donald Trump’s disastrous border policies that got us here in the first place. When Trump took office, he never once sought legislation from Congress to fix the border, but thought he could do it all himself. He began issuing executive orders, most of which violated our asylum laws and were shot down by the courts. A few stuck for a while but stirred a lot of controversy, like the racist Muslim ban and separating families. He also tried to build his disastrous border wall, which proved easily vulnerable to penetration. Only 455 of the 2,000 miles were completed. How did Trump respond to criticism? In February, he deliberately helped kill the historic bipartisan border bill to feed his own cheap campaign script about “our immigration crisis.” Typical Trump politics. Herb Paserman
Fee fleece
Brooklyn: I agree with everything Voicer Lee Rottenberg wrote about congestion pricing except one point. The goal is not to cut traffic, it’s to squeeze more money from hard-working citizens. Glenn Brown
Follow the research
Albany: The op-ed “New York City’s child welfare crisis” (May 6) is a calculated and disingenuous attempt to discredit use of public resources that promote children’s safety and welfare by supporting family and community stability, health and wellbeing. Decades of research show that all children have better life chances when their families can rely on strong family-centered supports and well-resourced communities. By contrast, children taken from their homes — most often for reasons related to lack of basic necessities — painfully struggle in adulthood. Reactionary responses to extreme outlier cases drive foster care panics, spurring unnecessary and harmful family investigations that disrupt children’s lives, often leading to forced removal from their families and placement with strangers in unfamiliar and harmful environments. Amid growing calls to scale back excessive and unnecessary removal of Black children from their families, it’s important to focus on what we know works — ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to economic security and city services that bolster family life. Angela Olivia Burton
Press play
Valhalla, N.Y.: Rick Carlisle, coach of the Indiana Pacers, has Indiana filing a complaint with the NBA about “unfair” officiating during their games with the Knicks. He is sending in 78 clips of officiating decisions that he feels went against his team. The Knicks will also see these clips. The actual reason Indiana is sending them is to tire out the Knicks. Besides the constant full-court pressuring by Indiana, they feel that if the Knicks watch all 78 clips, they won’t get any sleep before the next game! Good idea, Rick! Michael Grisanti
Acts of God?
Staten Island: I’ve been watching the various tornadoes, drenching and flooding thunderstorms and “yuge” hail (hah) never before seen, all hitting red states very hard. In light of these obvious signs from God that the red states must repent and change their evil ways, where has truth-sayer Moscow Marge gone? Why, only a few weeks ago, when a 1,000-year predicted solar eclipse happened around the same time that New Jersey had a minor earthquake — a naturally occurring phenomena — Marjorie Taylor Greene was calling down God’s wrath upon the Northeast, saying we must repent. From what, she didn’t say. God’s wrath when the Northeast has weather and geology, yet what, Marge, just weather elsewhere? Margie, darling, troll of trolls, it’s called spring on the planet we broke, you dolt. The GOP is hellbent on tearing this country down, and this idiot from Georgia is just one example. Tom McGuire
