Ahmadinejad

University President and Chair of the University Senate Lee Bollinger reviewed the visit of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and was criticized by various faculty members at last Friday’s Senate meeting.

Imagine a 21st-century Pope who ruled by 13th-century standards. Imagine hundreds of millions subjected to the whims of Papal fiat. Imagine a government that hangs homosexuals, buries “promiscuous” women alive, executes children, jails and tortures dissidents, calls for the destruction of Protestant nations, and relies upon a secret police to enforce Catholic social mores.

Freedom of Speech Comes From the People, not the Military
Mudslinging Invalidates Arguments and Has No Place on Opinion Page
Comments on Free Speech and Bollinger Taken Out of Context and Misleading

On Thursday afternoon, Spectator sat down with University President Lee Bollinger to discuss recent bias incidents, the invitation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the University's plans for Manhattanville expansion. The following is a transcript of the conversation.

In a rare show of dissent, Iranian students at the University of Tehran gathered outside school gates, demonstrating against the government as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke there yesterday, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.

“This is about freedom of speech. You can’t just let someone like that go and speak freely.”

Before moving to the U.S., I can only recall one instance during which I felt profoundly uncomfortable expressing my opinions to the people around me. It was in the seventh grade: for fear of being ostracized by my new friends, I could not bring myself to tell them that I had actually hated Titanic.

Only one year ago, Columbia’s ‘”fascist liberal anarchists” undertook their crusade against free speech, storming and occupying the stage from which Jim Gilchrist and his Minutemen comrades were simply presenting their ideas. Just last week, Columbia University proved negligent in its decision to bring in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, granting this bigot and his ideas a legitimizing Columbia University podium which would result in disastrous consequences.

Last Monday saw crowds of protesting students, an influx of concerned community members, and an impressive media presence on Columbia’s campus. The chaotic disturbance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit was remarkable.

Wednesday had that eerie, out-of-this world feeling that can only be the stuff of protests.