Columbia Shames itself by hosting Ahmadinejad

This Monday, Columbia University, largely considered one of the best in the world, hosts the visiting President of Iran. Ahmadinejad’s visit has largely been hailed with criticism and opposition, and rightfully so. Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger, shames himself and his university by not only allowing, but actively inviting Ahmadinejad to speak.

Those who are not familiar with Ahmadinejad should know this: he is not only a radical Islamofascist who supports terrorism against the US, but he is also a leading anti-Semite. In addition to calling the Holocaust a myth, he has called for the complete and utter destruction of Israel. I find it unbelievable at best that Bollinger would allow such a man to speak at a university with such a significant Jewish population, when, if it were up to Ahmadinejad, those very students wouldn’t be alive to listen to him speak.

This should not only be an outrage to every Jewish student at Columbia, but to every man and woman who believes in freedom of religion and pluralism, regardless of religious background.

Perhaps Bollinger should follow the lead of the City of New York, who declined Ahmadinejad’s request to visit Ground Zero. This request in itself is outrage enough to deny providing a speaking opportunity to Ahmadinejad at Columbia. The president of Iran essentially slapped this country in the face by making such a request in the first place. Do not be fooled: Ahmadinejad did not intend to pay respect to any American had he visited the WTC. Instead, any wreath he laid would have been in commemoration of the terrorists who murdered three thousand Americans, and not the victims who died.

There have been two main arguments advanced in support of Ahmadinejad speaking. The first contends that students (and everyone else who hears his speech presumably) will have a valuable educational experience. This is hogwash.

Any one who truly wishes to understand Ahmadinejad’s views needs simply read speeches he has made in his own country. Speeches that include things like, “Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury” and “The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world.” Fortunately for Ahmadinejad, Lee Bollinger is making it just a little easier for that Islamic revolutionary wave to reach NYC.

The second argument that has been advanced is that Ahmadinejad has a right to speak. This argument is even worse than the first. As the head of a member nation, Ahmadinejad has the right to speak at the United Nations. This right does not extend, however, beyond the physical walls of that establishment.

The President of Iran is not an American. Our first amendment does not apply to him, nor should even the notion of free speech be applied so. If you do think Ahmadinejad has a right to speak, then I challenge you to go ask the many Iranians he has had murdered for standing up to his regime how they feel about it. But wait, it doesn’t really seem like Ahmadinejad felt that freedom of speech applied to them, does it?