September 26, 2007
Two Presidents in Action Posted by Alexander Burns at 11:05 AM EST Following this week’s exchange about Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University, I encourage readers to see for themselves what kind of welcome the man received. Video of President Lee Bollinger’s introductory remarks is available here, and continued here. Ahmadinejad’s reaction to Bollinger can be viewed here, and clips of his extended remarks are elsewhere on YouTube. As I wrote earlier this week, I don’t know that I would have invited Ahmadinejad to speak, had I been in Lee Bollinger’s shoes. But if the Columbia president wanted to host him, this was the way to do it. Bollinger’s introductory remarks were, in my view, totally magnificent–beginning with a sophisticated argument about free speech and concluding with this blunt address to Ahmadinejad: “A year ago, I am reliably told, your preposterous and belligerent statements in this country, as at one of the meetings at the Council on Foreign Relations, so embarrassed sensible Iranian citizens that this led to your party’s defeat in the December mayoral elections. May this do that and more.” One can see, from the video of Ahmadinejad taking the stage, that not everyone in the audience shared President Bollinger’s sentiments. But for the Iranian president, this event was a humiliation. He was publicly castigated by an American scholar and then laughed at by a room full of college students. I can think of few illustrations of American freedom more compelling than the image of 18- and 19-year-olds scoffing in the face of a despot.
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