Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York for a two-day trip in which he will engage in a debate at Columbia University Monday and address the UN General Assembly Tuesday. New York’s police denied Ahmadinejad’s request to visit Ground Zero and pay his respects to the victims of September 11th. Generally speaking, Americans don’t “like” Ahmadinejad. His name is too long. He doesn’t like women going to college. He has long been accused of funding Muslim terrorist groups with money and munitions, including the insurgency in Iraq. And the reason I don’t like him is that ‘Jad is a vicious anti-Zionist and an emphatic Holocaust denier, who said in a 2005 speech that Israel should be “wiped off the map” calling it a “disgraceful stain on the Muslim world.” He told the press that Americans are misinformed and that the purpose of this trip is to clarify Iran’s views on global politics, nuclear weapon development and terrorism. Over the weekend at Columbia University, students, alumni, city officials and NY residents held protests, many calling for ‘Jad to be arrested when he arrives to Columbia. The upper West Side of Mahattan, where Columbia is located, is home to a large Jewish population and thousands are expected to protest Monday. University President Lee Bollinger (who in his last job was my university president) plans on introducing M-Jad and presenting him with a “series of tough challenges.” Columbia Dean John Coatsworth said in an interview this week that he would open the school’s doors to Hitler if it meant an intellectual debate with the students. The Wall Street Journal ripped Columbia and Bollinger in an editorial Monday writing, “We don’t quite see how the right to free speech — a freedom Mr. Ahmadinejad conspicuously denies his own people — is tantamount to the right to an illustrious pedestal.” Whereas USA Today published an opinion piece called “Let Iranian president speak” saying that “The public display of Ahmadinejad getting to taste two fundamental pillars of democracy — free speech and the right to protest — should speak volumes about what the United States stands for, and what he and Iran don’t.” I’m not sure how I feel about Columbia opening its doors to this guy. But what really bothers me is that Columbia is shutting out the news media from the event. Why shouldn’t we all be able to hear Mahmoud’s speech? It seems kind of contradictory of Columbia to give a crazy Holocaust-denying dictator the right to speak and prohibit the public from hearing or seeing it. Maybe he’ll surprise us all and say something sane.
•WSJ: Lee Bollinger, Tough Guy
•USA Today: Let Him Speak