Where Exactly is the Line, Lisa?
We were remiss yesterday not to cover news of Columbia's invitation to Ahmadinejad to speak at the University at its World Leaders Forum. Eliana Johnon at the NYSun - still my favorite paper, even though for the last 3 weeks they have messed up my delivery entirely, meaning I'm not receiving the paper - reports the details.Unbeknownst to Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, our old friend, Lisa Anderson, dean of Columbia's school of international and public affairs, invited the distinguished gentleman to speak at the university. Bollinger, in the best news I ever heard about him - or more aptly - the only good news I ever heard about him - saw fit to cancel that invitation.
Mr. Bollinger said he canceled Mr. Ahmadinejad's invitation because he couldn't be certain it would "reflect the academic values that are the hallmark of a University event such as our World Leaders Forum." He told Ms. Anderson that Mr. Ahmadinejad could speak at the school of international and public affairs, just not as a part of the university-wide leader's forum.Personally, I'd like to have heard that screaming match. You did what without informing me, the President of the University!
Judy Jackson, the leader of Columbia's chapter of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, a nonprofit group that aims to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on college campuses, defined the problem a little bit differently.
A professor at the school of public health, Judy Jacobson, said Ms. Anderson "didn't see what line she was crossing." When asked to clarify the substance of that line, Ms. Jacobson paused. "Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier and inciter and I think that causes him to go far over the line," she said.Yep. I'd say not seeing what line she is crossing sums up Lisa's behavior in a multitude of actions.
posted by Alcibiades @ 11:15 AM
1 Comments:
The funny thing is that Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial is hardly the worst thing about him. More importantly, he would like to produce a new holocaust by attacking Israel with nuclear weapons. He has said as much, quite openly.
But that, apparently, isn't enough to get you barred from a college campus. It's only Holocaust denial, which can be regarded as "hate speech," that does the trick.
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