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Honestly, it's quite an accomplishment when you act like a bigger asshole than the visiting radical leader of a nation that sponsors terrorism. Columbia University invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak Monday. The visit was met (rightfully) by a lot of angry protest. Ahmadinejad has questioned the Holocaust, threatened the existence of Israel, etc.. He's not an admirable guy, and defending him is difficult. He deserved the cool reception he received, no question.
But, when you invite someone to talk – however repulsive you find him – you have a responsibility to honor the spirit of an invitation and allow free speech to happen. No one forced Columbia to invite Ahmadinejad (in fact most everyone wonders why the university issued the invitation). Give the Iranian leader enough rope, history has shown, and he will hang himself in the court of world opinion. Even if we find a world leader's point of view repugnant, it advances the mission of an American university to provide a forum for discussion and criticism.
However, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger saw a chance to raise his national profile. Bollinger stood up to do the introduction, and attacked his university's guest, calling him cowardly, illiterate and ignorant. Even if all of these are true, the proper thing to do would have been to stand up and explain why the university issued the invitation.
Ahmadinejad was clearly shocked by Bollinger's introduction and began his comments by calling Bollinger "discourteous." Score one point for Ahmadinejad. I'm not a fan, but he was right, Bollinger acted like an asshole (and a media whore, by the way).
If I was a member of the Columbia University community, I'd be asking how Bollinger harmed the intellectual mission of the university for his own gain. If I was an Iranian, I'd be wondering how Americans can talk so self-righteously about freedom of speech. And, if I was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I'd be sending Bollinger a thank you note for doing something absolutely no one on the plantet has been able to do: make the Iranian leader a sympathetic figure, even if only for a few hours.
