As a neophyte graduate student in history in the late 1990s, I once asked a veteran professor how he managed to focus on grad school during the campus protests of the Vietnam Era. “Easy,” he replied. “You went to the library.”

In other words, the protesters might take themselves seriously, but that does not oblige you to do the same. Without wishing them harm, in fact, you might even quietly chuckle when they receive what looks like a mild comeuppance.

At Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, a Georgia state trooper took down a protester with a linebacker-style form tackle that drew high praise on social media.

A 13-second clip posted to social media platform X showed the tackle once, and then again in slower motion.

Photojournalist Billy Heath III of Fox 5 Atlanta called it “one of the first takedowns of many” on the day.

PROTESTER TACKLED BY TROOPER: Video captured at the Pro-Palestine protest at Emory in Atlanta shows the moment a protester is tackled by a Georgia State Patrol trooper. This was one of the first takedowns of many, several protesters were arrested today on the campus. @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/N96Ny9yqSr

— Billy Heath III (@BillyHeathFOX5) April 25, 2024

Some X users joked that the trooper must have had a background in organized football.

Definitely played HS football, lol!

— Arithia (@Arithia3) April 26, 2024

Wow , he must have played for Alabama

— Tom (@Syloustr) April 26, 2024

That brief clip, of course, provided no context. The trooper might have had a good reason for tackling the protester. Or, the trooper might have tackled the wrong person. Anything is possible, which makes speculation pointless in this particular instance.

In a broader sense, however, the trooper and his fellow officers had plenty of good reasons for being on campus.

Thanks to a video report from Fox 5’s Eric Perry, we do have some much-needed context for the tackle.

“It was something never seen on the campus of Emory University Thursday as pro-Palestinian protesters and those against the Atlanta training facility went head-to-head with law enforcement,” Perry’s report began.

Thus, the protesters at Emory also included antifa miscreants from Atlanta’s “Stop Cop City” movement.

For further context, Michael Doudna of WSB-TV posted a video of a “peaceful” antifa protest outside Emory’s theology school.

As they crowded around law enforcement officers, pushing them against the building, the protesters maintained a chant that equated the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

“A-P-D, K-K-K, I-D-F, they’re all the same!” the protesters chanted again and again.

Protestors here at Emory are pushing in on officers near the theology school. Things are starting to escalate here. pic.twitter.com/olCbWIntZg

— Michael Doudna (@MichaelDoudna) April 26, 2024

Perry’s report also showed Emory faculty and staff being led away in handcuffs after cosplaying as activists.

According to representatives of the university, the protest did not originate with members of the Emory community. Thus, university officials called on both Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol to help quell the disturbances.

All of this, of course, followed a pattern of ugly recent incidents at campus protests across the country.

In other words, one need not know the identity of the tackling trooper, or the tackled protester, or the reason for the specific tackle, to understand the broader context.

Violent and narcissistic leftist protesters have caused no end of trouble. But police, if given the chance, can handle them.

In the meantime, no one has an obligation to take those narcissists as seriously as they take themselves.

As for university students who must navigate the campus chaos, take a cue from my former professor. Ignore the protesters. Go to the library.