I would not be as bothered by Columbia University's decision to host Iran's
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if Columbia and other universities had a
consistent policy toward those they invite to speak and the rules applied
equally to conservatives and liberals; to totalitarian dictators and to
advocates for freedom and tolerance.
Any conservative who has ever tried, or actually succeeded, in speaking on
the campus of predominately liberal academic institutions knows it can
resemble to some extent the struggle experienced by African Americans when
they attempted to desegregate lunch counters in the South during the Civil
Rights Movement.
In the 1980s, I spoke at universities from Smith College in the East to the
University of California at Davis in the West. At Smith, lesbians sat in the
front row kissing each other while the rest of the crowd shouted so loud no
one could hear me (NPR's Nina Totenberg witnessed the riotous behavior,
prompting me to remark, "I hope you're getting this on tape, Nina, because
this is what liberals mean by tolerance.").
Former U.S. News and World Report columnist John Leo has been among the
chroniclers of the demise of free speech on many college campuses. Writing
in last winter's issue of the publication City Journal, Leo noted that
Columbia University officials prevented a large crowd from hearing Walid
Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist who is now an anti-jihadist. The reason
given was security, which as Leo pointed out is a frequent excuse for
restricting speech. Had Shoebat remained a PLO terrorist, Columbia might
have allowed the students in, because anti-Jewish rhetoric of the kind
Ahmadinejad delivers always seems welcome on too many campuses. Only
Columbia students and 20 guests were allowed to hear Shoebat speak.
Why would Columbia expect Ahmadinejad to answer what they promised in
advance would be "tough" questions? Have they not seen him interviewed by
America's best reporters? He doesn't answer questions. He uses the
interviews to lecture America and make his propaganda points. The exercise
is useless, except to him because he scores points at home for "standing up
to Œthe Great Satan,' or whatever the preferred term du jour for the United
States is at the moment.
Last October at Columbia, a mob of students stormed a stage, curtailing
speeches by two members of the anti-illegal immigration group known as the
Minutemen. The students shouted "They have no right to speak," which was
revealing, given the "academic freedom" argument that is used to defend
liberal professors and their frequent anti-American rants when conservatives
attempt to shut them up.