In October 2018, Sarah Lawrence College professor Samuel Abrams penned an op-ed in the New York Times that detailed the growing ideological homogeneity of university administrators. It was a scholarly piece, muted in tone and data-heavy. It covered topics of concern, administrative bloat and ideological conformity on campus, that were well within the mainstream of public thought at the time, particularly regarding the swelling cost of tuition and the waning value of a college degree.

In the piece, Abrams, who is also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, cited the results of a survey he’d conducted on the topic, which found that liberals outnumbered conservatives among administrators by a ratio of 12:1 and that only 6% of administrators described themselves as “conservative to some degree.” He went on to discuss the implications of the disparity, including ideologically lopsided nonacademic campus programming, which he’d begun to witness on his own campus.

Following its release, Sarah Lawrence students vandalized Abrams’s office and left threatening messages on the door, such as, “Our right to exist is not ‘ideological’ asshole — a transexual f**,” and, “Quit, go teach somewhere else you racist a**hat (maybe Charlottesville?).” They proceeded to shut down campus with a “sit-in” organized by the student-led Diaspora Coalition. The group, whose hashtag “ #50yearsofshame ” trended briefly on Twitter, “occupied” an administrative building (remember when “occupying” was all the rage?) and issued a screed that included the following:

“On October 16, 2018, politics professor Samuel Abrams published an op-ed entitled ‘Think Professors Are Liberal? Try School Administrators’ in The New York Times. The article revealed the anti-Blackness, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-woman bigotry of Abrams. … Abrams’ derision of the Black Lives Matter, queer liberation, and women’s rights movements displays not only ignorance but outright hostility towards the essential efforts to dismantle white supremacy and other systems of oppression. This threatens the safety and wellbeing of marginalized people within the Sarah Lawrence community. … We demand that Samuel Abrams’ position at the College be put up to tenure review to a panel of the Diaspora Coalition and at least three faculty members of color. In addition, the College must issue a statement condemning the harm that Abrams has caused to the college community, specifically queer, Black, and female students, whilst apologizing for its refusal to protect marginalized students wounded by his op-ed and the ignorant dialogue that followed. Abrams must issue a public apology to the broader SLC community and cease to target Black people, queer people, and women. [emphasis mine]”

Now, the word “insane” gets tossed around loosely in our age. But the response among the students, and even some of the faculty, to Abrams’s relatively anodyne op-ed better reflects the dictionary definition of the term : mentally ill or unreasonably stupid. The idea that the Abrams op-ed “threatened the safety and well-being” of anyone suggests the presence of both markers of insanity.

Unsurprisingly, college President Cristle Collins Judd feared the madness of the mob — which was understandable following a spate of recent uprisings on campus, including the disturbing incident at Evergreen State College the year before in which a mob of activist students held the college president hostage. When asked by Abrams to issue a condemnation of the ransacking of his office, Judd suggested that Abrams was principally to blame since, in her words, his op-ed “attacked” members of the community and created a hostile work environment.

According to Abrams, Judd also menacingly suggested that the tenured professor was on the market for a new job, which left him baffled. "I am not on the job market," he said in an interview with Reason. "I am tenured, I live in New York. Why would I go on the job market?"

Five years later, the scale of the furor triggered by the largely anodyne op-ed seems so disproportionate that it beggars belief. Forget for a moment that this took place at one of the most prestigious (and expensive) liberal arts colleges in the world. Forget that these students are some of the most fortunate and least oppressed humans in civilizational history. Forget even that Sarah Lawrence is a uniquely political community. Even then, the whole episode feels curious, as if some crucial element has been missed.

Perhaps the incredulity we feel at revisiting the Abrams incident is evidence of how far we've come from peak Trump-era insanity on campus. Perhaps the self-aggrandizing Marxist cosplayers who comprise the revolution-for-idiots are finally outnumbered, which would once again allow for the great pursuits of the academy — truth, meaning, and justice — to take center stage.

And yet, episodes of campus outbursts are still shockingly common, more conservative students and faculty report having to self-censor their views than ever before, and public trust in the value of higher education continues to crater.

And that’s in large part due to the fact that few, if any, consequences accompany the kind of shameful behavior displayed at Sarah Lawrence. Judd continues her reign as president after trying unsuccessfully to force Abrams out. The Diaspora Coalition members have all graduated and joined the commentary desk at Vox.

Just kidding. They’ve all become campus administrators. Obviously.

Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, The Catholic Thing, and the National Catholic Register.