From the Columbia Coalition

I am one of the students who spearheaded the Columbia Coalition, a group of student leaders who have come together in an attempt to preserve what little opportunity remains to promote academic freedom and free exchange when Ahmadinejad arrives on our campus on Monday.

What are we doing? The plan is fairly simple. Many students recognized that with such a controversial figure coming to campus and so many voices that need to be heard, chaos would inevitably ensue as we battled for the same protest permits, limited space, and cooperation from the University. So instead, we have come together to give every recognized University group the opportunity to express their view in a public forum on Monday. We are coordinating live feeds of the lecture so that the many students who got closed out can watch it in real time. We also plan to disseminate information to the student community about other related opportunities, such as discussion groups hosted by various student groups before and after the lecture.

Although the plan seems fairly simple, I strongly believe this coalition is necessary, important, and demonstrates an incredible degree of intellectual integrity and maturity on behalf of Columbia students. But I do have one complaint. As much as I would like to promise that the absolute highest degree of academic freedom will be preserved on Monday, I am aware that this is impossible. Firstly, the lecture format was decided before students could even think about getting involved in the decision-making. Namely, the Q&A is limited to prescreened questions that will be asked by moderators instead of students. However, my major complaint is that the Columbia Coalition is working its hardest in seriously strained circumstances because the University did not provide enough notice, time or resources to organize the campus as effectively, appropriately, and as safely as possible.

I am not a tool of the University; I am a concerned student. In addition to believing strongly in the ideal of academic freedom and the importance of voicing all opinions, I too have strong opinions about President Ahmadinejad’s presence on my campus. As a contributor to the Coalition I am not quite sure how much of my own opinion I will be able to express on Monday. Instead, I will be running around, barely able to stand after not sleeping or eating for three days, because I was filling a void the university should have filled in its own capacity, or at least it should have provided an environment for student response more compatible to ensuring that the delicate balance of academic freedom could be adequately upheld.

So on Monday, many students and students groups are going to come together- not as a united group, but as a united campus committed to the ideal of academic freedom. From the positive response the Columbia Coalition has received, I am pretty certain about the position of Columbia students on the matter. My question is directed to the administration- what do you think about the importance of academic freedom on our campus? Apparently, not much.

The author is a Columbia College junior majoring in economics.