“At Columbia University, the wheels of justice grind exceeding slow. If at all.” So say the editors of the New York Post in reference to the student mob that, last October, shut down a speech by someone who—horror of horrors—actually supports enforcement of the nation’s borders.

Now Columbia wants the restricted speech zone that is its campus to expand into surrounding neighborhoods. And Columbia wants the government to evict the current occupants so the school can take the land for itself. Columbia hopes the city will use its power of eminent domain to seize the land from the people who currently own it, which the city can do even if the land owners don’t want to sell.

The Post notes:

An ideologically inspired mob attacked an invited speaker at one of America’s great universities. Months pass, and no meaningful punishment is meted out, and the university’s president - whose own academic specialty is the First Amendment - has yet to extend a personal apology to the victim.

And this same university - which clearly is unwilling to police its own grounds - seeks to extend its reach into surrounding neighborhoods by using the government’s power to condemn and seize private homes and businesses.

The two issues aren’t directly related, but eminent domain is such an extreme exercise of government power that it should only be used sparingly and with the greatest care and consideration. The city isn’t obligated to seize the land and give it to Columbia. And the city has every right—no, the city has a duty—to consider the behavior of the organizations that benefit from the exercise of its power.