National Review senior writer Michael Brendan Dougherty, on today’s edition of The Editors, called Columbia University’s inaction regarding disruptive student protesters “a failure of nerve” with “predictable” results.

“I think expelling is the answer,” Dougherty said. “I think for a huge number of these students, these arrests and the charges they’re taking under them are not a significant deterrent. They’re a badge of honor.”

As of Tuesday, Columbia is threatening to expel students who took over a building as part of the latest escalation. Whether the school follows through remains to be seen. Dougherty said that nothing serious, like “making them pay huge fines or making them serve any significant time even in a jail cell,” is being leveled at the protesters as it is. Expelling them is the best way, he said, adding: “I think telling them ‘You’re being deprived now of the stage on which you have launched this protest and you’re being evicted immediately and you will not have the status of a Columbia degree’ would do it.

“I don’t think doing it to just twelve ringleaders would work now, though. I think they have to go quite a bit further.”

The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.