Much to the surprise (dare I say, delight) of Spectator, in hiring an opinion columnist, they obtained a natural-turned-social scientist. Trusty scientific method in hand, part of this previous weekend was dedicated solely to proving my claims. Four conspicuous campus locales, three posters eight inches by 11 inches: "Native American Women for Choice," "Lesbian Quadriplegics Against War," and "Support Our Veterans and Their Cause: Celebrate Veterans Day [C4 logo]." The posters were placed subtly, blending into their surroundings. I taped them up and walked away.

A quick snack and a bit of reading later, the "30-minute update" found two Veterans posters torn down. Next check-in, one hour later, another military poster gone, with just one left. Two and a half hours later, every one of the ridiculously absurd progressive posters was still up, but there was not one Veterans Day poster in sight.

A point of clarification: the American political lexicon is an atrocious nomenclature. Yes, even I, on that rare occasion, will yield that the European political system holds an edge over our own. For a great portion of the world, the right wing, our modern American "conservatives," are known as liberals. Their opposition, American "liberals," the Democrats, have catchy names like "Progressive Socialists" and "Labor." Unlike their American brethren, Europeans aren't afraid to call a duck a duck and a Marxist a Marxist.

Worse, however, a jarring percentage of these self-professed Columbia "liberals" will claim righteous open-mindedness under the banner of liberalism. Yet, many willingly violate its every tenet. In this regard, I must correct myself: one would only expect progressives to censor opposition and lash out against conservative ideals. The "liberals" who do so, however, are the real hypocrites.

For the uninitiated, my Columbia Conservatives, with the help of the most esteemed College Republicans, Federalist Society, Columbia Citadel, and CPU, will bring former Governor, Senator, and Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak at the end of November.

Politics aside, as there are indeed several measures advocated by Ashcroft with which I disagree, this is a tremendous opportunity for both the student body and the University as a whole. It is the opportunity for meaningful and respectful dialogue. Well, actually, scratch that.

To accompany the announcement, a dedicated group of students invested themselves in the design, production, and placement of some 1,000 posters. A true demonstration of campus tolerance, very few of these posters lasted more than a few hours.

There, among countless reports of flyering Hamilton, only to finish and find all other posters already torn down, having signs taken down in your presence, or even having signs, private property, torn from your own door, stands the unwelcome truth.

I can't claim to think like the progressive "Columbia liberal," but this dramatic reenactment gets pretty close to the truth: "No War! No Violence! Stop the oppression and censorship! Respect everyone! Don't persecute minorities! Oh, look, a picture of someone who disagrees with me!" *tear*

Now, of course, conservative flyers aren't the only ones taken down or covered up-it happens to everyone. There are, understandably, unsaid rules to postering, but they emphasize respect.

It's one thing, however, to walk around campus and still see signs from "I had an abortion" on Nov. 9 alive and well, when your own posters have a wall life of under an hour. Conservatives also take down signs-neither side is perfect, admittedly, but (and I bet there's an equation for this) there are so many progressive signs that it's nearly impossible to make a dent in their numbers. We've all seen and few can deny that those 10,000 Socialist posters on the high traffic doors of Hamilton or columns in front of Lerner last for quite some time.

Those who tear down such posters, those who encourage it, those who just stand by, and those who justify it have no right to call themselves liberal and feign some mighty aura of open-mindedness. They are hypocrites and serve only to denigrate those individuals who treated the signs, and both the man and organizations they represent, with respect and courtesy.

Their mistake should serve as a warning to the rest: never let partisanship and bias subvert the noble ideology of tolerance.