Students Hiss and Verbally Attack Vet Who Was Shot 11 Times

Almost a cliche – but instructive.

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

“Racist!” some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

“It doesn’t matter how you feel about the war. It doesn’t matter how you feel about fighting,” said Maschek. “There are bad men out there plotting to kill you.”

Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds.

It was never about DADT; it was and is about what it was at the beginning. A hate by a segment of the privileged of this nation against the nation and its military that give them the freedom they enjoy.

There are more good people than bad at these institutions – let’s hope the tide has turned.

“Universities should not be involved in military activities,” Sociology Professor Emeritus Herbert Gans told The Post. “Columbia should come out against spending $300 billion a year on unnecessary wars.”

A group of 34 faculty colleagues, including historian Kenneth Jackson and former Bloomberg adviser Esther Fuchs, plan to announce their support of ROTC tomorrow.

José Robledo, 30, a Columbia student who commutes to Fordham University for ROTC coursework, said he found the treatment of Maschek abhorrent.

“The anti-ROTC side has been disrespectful and loud. They hiss and they jeer,” he said. “It’s been to the detriment of the argument.”

It’s about time for those from Columbia and others institutions that banned ROTC in the Age of Aquarius to grow up and be responsible citizens. Let’s see.

If nothing else, maybe we’ll have more Lacrosse teams on base.