Campus Watch in the Media

Do Columbia Professors Plan to Visit Iran to Apologize to Ahmadinejad?

by Candace de Russy
Phi Beta Cons
January 9, 2008

http://phibetacons.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmVlZDBlNDQ0NjAxMmU4YTdkODUxNjk5OTMxMGM3M2I=

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/4667

The question tells the tale, which has been posted at MehrNews.com in Tehran.

As Winfield Myers notes at Campus Watch, if this story is accurate, it will be another abject day in the history of Middle East studies at the university:

Apologize to a man like Ahmadinejad? Whatever one thinks of Columbia president Lee Bollinger's remarks during his introduction of Ahmadinejad last fall … that Columbia professors would grovel at the feet of such a regime … is further evidence of the intellectual and moral collapse within certain quarters of the American professoriate.

Professors at Columbia deny that there is a plan afoot to send a delegation to Tehran. If they are correct, the Mehr report nonetheless shows that the Iranian president continues to garner propaganda value from the ill-conceived decision to hand him a prestigious forum at the university.

Note: Postings in "Campus Watch in the Media" do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch.

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