Mai 68 it was not

The evening news alerted me to an upcoming "Find the Illegal Immigrant" event at none other than NYU, the latest attempt by our College Republicans at alerting the outside world that a) NYU exists, and b) it has its share of Republicans. While NYU does seem to exist, the College Republicans are like so many fantomes in Celine's roman. Jo, Thomas and I went out in search of the alleged offenders of all that is PC, but they were not to be found. A rather meager counter-protest, placard-holders walking in a small circle, was taking place, and one of the protesters assured us that there were Republicans not far off, engaged in an "eloquent" (his word) debate with those to their left. "Where are they?" I asked him several times, and he kept telling us, "On the other side," or something, and didn't seem to hear when I asked what street specifically.

We did a bit of searching in the direction he pointed, but no Republican stunts--or obvious Republicans--were to be found. Many news crews showed up, hoping for a glimpse at newly-right-wing NYC, perhaps, or at the vibrant tradition of college protest. What they got instead was a group of graduate students not that much smaller than that of the protesters, just kind of standing there, laughing at the whole thing. One, a classmate from Chicago who's now here, expressed his sympathy for the Republicans as the evident underdog. Underdog, though, implies the existence of a dog, and aside from several dachshunds and labradors, can't say I saw too many. One of the placards demanded that the College Republicans be deported. It seems they were.