I have little respect for Ahmadinejad, for what I can only call his distinct brand of amateurism. But today, I have lost a bit of respect for another president, the head of Columbia University. This is how he publicly addresses a guest invited to speak at his famed institution:
“Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,”adding, “You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.” [NYT]
Mr. Bollinger’s verbal assault, reportedly a full 15 minutes long, barely reflect the ethics of intelligent debate. If this man is a scholar, then I am a tad embarrassed to even associate myself with the academia.
Before the event, the controversy had loomed largely over Columbia’s decision to host Ahmadinejad: the university, and not least its president, was heavily criticized, especially by right-wingers. The debate on campus was apparently focused more on the question of freedom of speech. But now, after this ridiculous performance, attention has shifted somewhat from Ahmadinejad himself to Lee Bollinger. The latter, it seems, may have been able to win over some of those harsh critics: the NYT reports that “the American Israel Public Affairs Committee sent out an e-mail message shortly after the speech with the subject line, ‘A Must Read: Columbia University President’s Intro of Iran’s Ahmadinejad today.’ Inside was a transcript of Mr. Bollinger’s introduction.”
The Nation has just published a good piece by Jayati Vora, a recent graduate of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs–the sponsor of Ahmadinejad’s speech yesterday. She digs a little deeper into the recent history of muddled politics at Columbia, and the hypocrisies that even academics aren’t free of.
