EDITORIAL – Ahmadinejad’s speech sparks discussion

Columbia University’s decision to allow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at… Columbia University’s decision to allow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at the campus center on Monday has garnered much criticism these past couple days. Many Republicans, like former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, have criticized Columbia’s actions, saying, according to CNN, that the “University is being very foolish to allow that kind of person to have a venue like an American university.”

We could not disagree more.

Ahmadinejad is the leader of an important and influential country. Iran is becoming more and more prominent on the world stage each day. So this is the chance of a lifetime. It isn’t every day that American college students have the opportunity to pose questions to a powerful world leader. Not to mention, the leader of a country with which, many in Washington seem to believe, we may end up going to war.

Columbia University allowed Ahmadinejad to speak because school officials knew it would be beneficial to the student body, not because they support him or his views. According to a Columbia press release, the University president Lee Bollinger said “this event has nothing whatsoever to do with any ‘rights’ of the speaker but only with our rights to listen and speak. We do it for ourselves.” Columbia’s goal was to encourage discussion, and that’s always a respectable pursuit.

So Ahmadinejad spoke, and while we used to think he was a lunatic, now we’re absolutely sure. According to Voice of America news, Ahmadinejad revealed his belief that “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals, like in your country