I’ve been avoiding repeating the high coverage on the blogs about Columbia University inviting that diptoad Iranian President to speak…I admit also that I wasn’t fully aware of ALL the details.
This doesn’t surprise me:
NEW YORK — A Columbia University official under fire for inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to campus on Monday has said any notable figure visiting the United States — even Adolf Hitler — would be welcome to speak to students and faculty at the Ivy League college.
The invitation to Ahmadinejad as well as the remarks Saturday by Dean John Coatsworth have raised seeming contradictions over Columbia’s guest policy, with critics asking why the leader of a nation that exports terrorism is allowed to speak, but the leader of an American organization that seeks to secure U.S. borders is not.
School officials won’t allow an ROTC program in its curriculum but have invited one of America’s avowed enemies onto its campus, detractors note. They call it a double standard regarding public speakers and free speech.
Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust “a myth,” encouraged the destruction of Israel and leads a nation that has supported Hezbollah terrorists in the Middle East and insurgents in Iraq.
The Iranian president will address students and faculty at a forum only days after Columbia retracted a speaking invitation to the president of the Minuteman Project, a controversial citizens’ group that seeks to secure America’s borders from illegal immigrants, even going so far as to try building a fence along the border with Mexico.
Well we all know those pesky little assertions by Mr. Ahmadinejad are just meaningless rhetoric. We all know that many people totally agree with him- and many others just want to hear what the man has to say.
But what about the Minuteman Project fellow? What? Illegal immigration and the debate around it isn’t pesky enough for an elite Ivy League school? Guess not.
Minuteman founder and president Jim Gilchrist said he now feels “sweet and sour” toward Columbia after an invitation to participate in an Oct. 4 talk was taken away last week. Gilchrist appeared at Columbia last year, but his speech was thwarted when students and other opponents stormed the stage as he took the podium.
“I’ve always respected Columbia, but I’ve relegated it to a gutter school after that incident,” Gilchrist said in a phone interview. “They’ve stopped free speech. That’s worse than killing people. With that, you can kill an entire nation.”
Thats the way of it. Free speech is alright so long as that speech is politically correct. And since this school gets to pick and chose which speech is politically correct, Mr. Gilchrist is out of luck.
But if he were alive, Hitler wouldn’t have such bad luck? Come on Columbia. Do better.
I love the bullshit:
But Coatsworth, in an interview with FOX News, said just about anyone would be welcome to speak at the university.
“If Hitler were in the United States and wanted a platform from which to speak, he would have plenty of platforms to speak in the United States,” Coatsworth said. “If he were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly run it.”
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger issued a lengthy statement defending the school’s decision to host Ahmadinejad and said that during his introduction to the event, he would challenge the Iranian president on the following:
—the Iranian president’s denial of the Holocaust;
—his public call for the destruction of Israel;
—his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;
—Iran’s pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanctions;
—his government’s widely documented suppression of civil society and particularly women’s rights;
—his government’s imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia’s own alumni, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh.
“Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas,” Bollinger said in his statement. “On occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. …
I can’t wait to hear these questions be asked…and I wait with enthusiasm. I’m an optimistic person and will put my faith in the university- and the challenging chatter they promise to bring forth.
(rolling my eyes)