I think Rob Anderson protests too much in his annoyance with Rich for calling the protestors at the New School the “student left.” First, from the sounds of it, the students were organized with signs and the like. Second, the class speaker led the assault on McCain, that certainly confers some authority. Third, it is the nature of campus politics that the people who are the loudest and best organized tend to define the cause. Fourth, what else should these kids be called? “Student Protestors of the Left of Center”? This is the New School we’re talking about here.
Lastly, Anderson suggests that he wouldn’t have protested had he been in the audience, so it’s not right to say the protestors define the student left. Not quite. The question is not whether the protesting qua protesting is representative of the student left, but whether the ideas they’re throwing around are. Anderson says he wouldn’t have booed McCain had he been in the audience. Okay, so he’s got better manners. What he doesn’t say is if he’d have disagreed with them. Were the noisy ones speaking for a lot of the quiet ones? Seems to me they were.
Update: A reader makes a good point:
As least there’s no need to argue about a “Faculty Left”. The NYTimes article said faculty also turned their backs when McCain started to speak. Was there any record of a smattering of applause from the faculty section? I doubt it.