Earlier this week, a video surfaced of a group of kids just beating the snot out of a fellow student on Dean College’s campus and stealing his sneakers.

Here’s the vid if you care to watch a kid getting beat on. I didn’t watch the whole thing because it sickens me but the school’s response to it was interesting.

Nine students have been expelled so far because of the video.

According to Inside Higher Ed:

At first, officials who got word of the fight Friday afternoon suspended only the main perpetrator. (The college’s public safety office received numerous calls about the fight when it happened.) But once they got wind of the video early this week, they started tracking down the others who cheered the fight on or “actively stood by,” said Dean spokesman John Marcus.

“It goes against the Dean College code of conduct and community standards,” Marcus said. “You don’t stand around and watch one of the members of your community be pummeled, basically, and not do anything to help him.”

“Actively stood by.” It’s almost an oxymoron but I dig it.

I think I’m completely on board with the school here. You stand by and watch someone take a beatdown without so much as a yelp of protest, you’re guilty. No, you’re not as guilty as the guy doing the beatdown but you’re guilty of doing nothing.

As they say, all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing

As much as I support the school though, it goes against what young people have been taught for years in that you don’t confront bullies. You know what that moment needed – a young man who wasn’t afraid of getting punched a few times if it meant stopping someone from getting a serious beat down. That moment called for someone who was willing to throw a few punches himself. That moment called for someone to say, “You’re going to have to go through me.”

But we’ve wussified an entire generation by telling them fighting is ALWAYS WRONG when it’s not. For some odd reason, I’ve seen more women standing up for people than I do men. I think it has something to do with them not thinking that they’ll get hit because they’re women but it’s brave to stand up no matter what when you don’t know the consequences.

I had older brothers so I learned early that getting a beating wasn’t the end of the world. And my older brothers had friends who also liked to teach me the same lesson. (In their defense I had a smart mouth.)

But if you want someone to stop a beating, it might be good if young men had gotten into a few scrapes themselves and weren’t afraid of getting hit. But kids today are brought up playing flag football instead of tackle or even two hand touch, they play Spud instead of dodge ball, and they’re told that fighting is never an appropriate response.

And then we’re shocked when these kids grow up to be men who aren’t willing to throw a punch or take one.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m for the College’s stance on this thing but we’ve got to be consistent.