Spring Break
Columbia's Fiasco, Or, How To Give Free Speech a Bad Name
Robert Zaller
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: Ed-Op
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Instead, he delivered a ten-minute tirade against Ahmadinejad to the latter's face. He called him "a petty and cruel dictator" who appeared "fanatical" and "astonishingly undereducated," not to say "quite simply ridiculous." He accused Iran of being a "well-documented" sponsor of state terrorism, thus lending the imprimatur of a great university to the rhetoric of The Weekly Standard.
Alas, it was Dr. Bollinger who made himself appear ridiculous. If Ahmadinejad were in fact as the President described him, then his presence on campus was inexplicable.
Why listen to a fool and a despot? Why dignify the ravings of a tyrant and an ignoramus? Bollinger even expressed doubt that his guest would have the "intellectual courage" to engage in debate. What purpose, then, could lie in having invited him? Was the university trying to bait him, like a circus bear?
If that was the intention, the bear clearly won the round. Ahmadinejad responded that Iranian students did not need to be 'vaccinated' against guest speakers, but were trusted to form their own judgments.
He scored some easy points on American foreign policy, and even his deadpan line about the absence of homosexuality in Iran was clearly meant to amuse. Ahmadinejad is a skillful performer who has honed his reputation for outrageous remarks carefully, simultaneously provoking Westerners and playing to a back-home crowd.
What he is not is a "dictator," as Dr. Bollinger ignorantly suggested. He is the secular clown-face of a theocratic state, whose role is a good deal closer to that of Baghdad Bob than, say, Chemical Ali.
When it comes to hosting real dictators, nobody does it better than Drexel. Ten years ago, we wined and dined Jiang Zemin, then President of the People's Republic of China, on whose hands the blood of Tiananmen Square had hardly yet dried.
Some few of us then expressed our personal revulsion at receiving Jiang in his official capacity, though of course he was welcome as the parent of a Drexel alumnus, Mian Heng (Ph.D., Electrical Engineering). I am sure President Jiang was not discommoded by any moral disgust directed his way, and his visit was, as I heard, a great success.
About a month later, in response to a solicitation for honorary degree nominees for the June commencement, I suggested the name of Wei-Jing Sheng, who had just been flown into exile in the United States after two decades of captivity as China's most celebrated prisoner of conscience.
Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had hailed his release, and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger had called it "a very happy day." I wrote:
"So it is, for in his campaign to bring democracy to one-fifth of the world's population, much of it waged in solitary confinement and under the most brutal conditions of captivity, Wei-Jin Sheng has written a significant chapter in the moral history of our time. Many institutions will want to honor this remarkable and courageous man; Drexel should be first among them."
Wei-Jing Sheng has not received an honorary degree from Drexel. I am still waiting for a reply to my letter.
Alas, it was Dr. Bollinger who made himself appear ridiculous. If Ahmadinejad were in fact as the President described him, then his presence on campus was inexplicable.
Why listen to a fool and a despot? Why dignify the ravings of a tyrant and an ignoramus? Bollinger even expressed doubt that his guest would have the "intellectual courage" to engage in debate. What purpose, then, could lie in having invited him? Was the university trying to bait him, like a circus bear?
If that was the intention, the bear clearly won the round. Ahmadinejad responded that Iranian students did not need to be 'vaccinated' against guest speakers, but were trusted to form their own judgments.
He scored some easy points on American foreign policy, and even his deadpan line about the absence of homosexuality in Iran was clearly meant to amuse. Ahmadinejad is a skillful performer who has honed his reputation for outrageous remarks carefully, simultaneously provoking Westerners and playing to a back-home crowd.
What he is not is a "dictator," as Dr. Bollinger ignorantly suggested. He is the secular clown-face of a theocratic state, whose role is a good deal closer to that of Baghdad Bob than, say, Chemical Ali.
When it comes to hosting real dictators, nobody does it better than Drexel. Ten years ago, we wined and dined Jiang Zemin, then President of the People's Republic of China, on whose hands the blood of Tiananmen Square had hardly yet dried.
Some few of us then expressed our personal revulsion at receiving Jiang in his official capacity, though of course he was welcome as the parent of a Drexel alumnus, Mian Heng (Ph.D., Electrical Engineering). I am sure President Jiang was not discommoded by any moral disgust directed his way, and his visit was, as I heard, a great success.
About a month later, in response to a solicitation for honorary degree nominees for the June commencement, I suggested the name of Wei-Jing Sheng, who had just been flown into exile in the United States after two decades of captivity as China's most celebrated prisoner of conscience.
Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had hailed his release, and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger had called it "a very happy day." I wrote:
"So it is, for in his campaign to bring democracy to one-fifth of the world's population, much of it waged in solitary confinement and under the most brutal conditions of captivity, Wei-Jin Sheng has written a significant chapter in the moral history of our time. Many institutions will want to honor this remarkable and courageous man; Drexel should be first among them."
Wei-Jing Sheng has not received an honorary degree from Drexel. I am still waiting for a reply to my letter.
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