ANOTHER SIGN OF HOPE – OVERNIGHT:  Day by day, little by little, we are seeing signs that the rational elements in our society, and those who understand the brilliance of this country's founding, are striking back against the woke culture.  The University of Chicago (my alma mater), has been one of the leaders in the battle for free speech.  Now, members of its faculty are taking the correct path again, demanding not the defunding of the police in the university's neighborhood, but greater police protection.  Common sense on the march.  Wish them luck.  From College Fix: 

Nearly 400 professors at the University of Chicago, on the city’s South Side, have urged the administration to expand policing after several killings in the most recent semester and three in 2021.

“Anti-violence should be made the TOP priority at the University,” the faculty members wrote in an open letter to the administration. But unlike some of the activist groups on campus that want to abolish the police, the University of Chicago faculty want more cops and security guards.

The letter asks for the university to “[e]nlarge the borders of UCPD (University of Chicago Police Department) territory to the Hyde Park neighborhood” and “dramatically increase surveillance camera systems in the entire Hyde Park community, making sure that every block and every street is covered by surveillance cameras.”

“Security guards need to patrol every road crossing in the neighborhood,” the faculty letter said.

They also want to see accountability for the murder of Shaoxiong Zheng, a Chinese student who died soon after graduating with his graduate degree from the university.

Beyond that murder, there needs to be more accountability from local police, the faculty said.

A committee should be formed to “address the serious violence and security issues in Hyde Park.”

The letter said:

Every gun robbery or other crime that has occurred on campus requires attention and a final report. We cannot afford to let these slip away, begetting eventual further loss of life as we have witnessed repeatedly in the last few years. Criminals need to be identified, arrested and sentenced — this is essential to rebuild public trust.

Professor Rachel Fulton Brown, a signer of the letter, told The College Fix that previous calls to defund the police were likely seen by most people as “unrealistic.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  When I was an undergraduate at Chicago in the late 1950s, the university faced the same threat of violence.  It actually bought up large tracts of the surrounding neighborhood to build new and safer housing.  Strange how the situation hasn't changed much in six decades.  Blame that largely on the leftist mentality of Chicago politics, and the inability of the Democratic Party to free itself from racial influence. 

You may be sure that the Marxist crowd at Chicago is already penning a demand that the professors who wrote the above letter be punished.  The mature adults at the university must stand firm, and not back down.  They are in the majority, and it is time they threw their weight around. 

January 9, 2022