Janitor at Columbia Univ speaks out after Siege of Campus Building

[Melensdad]

Interesting story . . . planned attack, cameras covered, swarms of people, organized. This is a must read.

You can follow the link to hear the full interview

Exclusive: Columbia Custodian Trapped by ‘Angry Mob’ Speaks Out

‘We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed.’ A Free Press exclusive with facilities worker Mario Torres.

www.thefp.com

Exclusive: Columbia Custodian Trapped by ‘Angry Mob’ Speaks Out​

‘We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed.’ A Free Press exclusive with facilities worker Mario Torres.​

Francesca BlockTuesday, May 7, 2024​

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“People don’t feel comfortable walking through a mob to get into campus. That’s crazy,” Mario Torres tells The Free Press. (Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images)​

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It’s the viral image that captured the clash between the anti-Israel protesters who stormed Columbia and the campus workers who tried to stop them. As the mob invaded Hamilton Hall in the early hours of April 30, a facilities worker was photographed pushing a demonstrator against a wall. ​

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Later, it emerged that the protester was a 40-year-old trust fund kid named James Carlson, who owns a townhouse in Brooklyn worth $2.3 million. The man who tried to hold him back was Mario Torres, 45, who has worked at Columbia—where the average janitor makes less than $19 an hour—for five years.​

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Now, in an exclusive interview with The Free Press, Mario Torres describes the experience of being on duty as protesters stormed the building in the early hours of the morning, breaking glass and barricading the entrances. “We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed by an angry mob with rope and duct tape and masks and gloves,” he said.​

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“They came from both sides of the staircases. They came through the elevators and they were just rushing. It was just like, they had a plan.” Mario said protesters with zip ties, duct tape, and masks “just multiplied and multiplied.”​

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At one point, he remembers “looking up and I noticed the cameras are covered.” It made him think: “This was definitely planned.”​

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Torres was trying to “protect the building” when he ended up in an altercation with Carlson: “He had a Columbia hoodie on, and I managed to rip that hoodie off of him and expose his face.” (Carlson was later charged with five felonies, including burglary and reckless endangerment.) “I was freaking out. At that point, I’m thinking about my family. How was I gonna get out? Through the window?”​

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Torres has not been to campus since the incident. He says he does not feel safe. “When it comes to the public safety, the workers’ safety, people don’t feel comfortable walking through a mob to punch in to get into campus. That’s crazy,” he said.​

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He added that he’s worried Columbia might take disciplinary action against him for speaking out. He worries about losing a job he loves. He worries about supporting his young family.​

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“Is Columbia going to retaliate and find a reason to fire me? Is someone going to come after me? So I’m taking a big risk doing this, but I think that they failed. They failed us. And I think that’s the bigger story. They failed us. They should have done more to protect us, and they didn’t.”​

 

[FrancSevin]

I would seem our nation, built on the backs of hard-working good people, is at risk to the progeny of those of wealth and privilege who haven't learned or taught their children respect for those who's effort made their fortunes.

This disrespect of other citizen is completely out of control and does nothing to create a nation of unity or purpose. So, where do we go from here?

 

[Melensdad]

I would seem our nation, built on the backs of hard-working good people, is at risk to the progeny of those of wealth and privilege who haven't learned or taught their children respect for those who's effort made their fortunes.

This disrespect of other citizen is completely out of control and does nothing to create a nation of unity or purpose. So, where do we go from here?

Rebuild the Trade Schools programs because the "intellectuals" are too stupid to know how to paint a wall.

Job security will come from skills.

Respect for trades will return, perhaps only because of necessity. But the Starbucks crowd that doesn't know which bathroom to use also can't plunge a toilet, change a car tire, or replace a faulty light switch . . . so they rely on hiring people to do those jobs. The simple jobs are the start of a trend. If they can't replace a light switch then it's a safe bet they can't replace the fuse in the breaker box.

Sadly many young people are clueless and helpless.

One of my 18 year old girl fencers had a flat tire in the fencing club. She knows how to change it. She didn't have the tools in her aging Ford Ranger. Fortunately I had a bottle of SLIME and a 12v pump. So here was a girl with some brain power and no equipment. Not sure she had a spare. Her dad was 45+ minutes away. 20 minutes later I got her on the road and followed her 1/2 way home (she is almost a neighbor). In her case I trust she would have "done what it takes" to get her truck on the road, our club is across the street from a Tractor Supply, she is was thinking through the problem and working out a plan when I walked over with the air pump. This was last week.

Another of my fencers, tonight, had the low tire pressure idiot light illuminate on her dash. I love this girl, but she was a liberal arts major. Theater and something else related to getting a job at a drive thru window??? Said she was going to drive anyway. Fortunately her dad, a practical hardworking man, stopped her. On the phone gave walked her step-by-step instructions on how to check the tire pressures. One tire was literally 1/2 the tire pressures of the others. Dad talks her, again, step-by-step, through the inflation process. But girl had every intention of ignoring the idiot light. Thankfully dad was a common sense thinker and stopped her. She'd be on the side of a dark road tonight without him. And she learned. This literally happened today.

People are understanding that SKILLS are required to actually live.