Free to be in NYC?

FEW TOP ADMINISTRATORS ARE LIKELY JEALOUS OF LEE Bollinger these days. The president of Columbia University has seen two major free speech incidents explode at his school this fall.

In early October, students physically disrupted a speech by Jim Gilchrest, founder of the Minuteman Project, which is known for anti-immigration activities. The students stormed a stage and overturned a table at the event sponsored by the College Republicans, chanting "Minutemen, Nazis, KKK! Racists, fascists, go away!"

Bollinger hustled to issue a statement noting that the incident was being investigated. "This is not complicated," he said. "Students and faculty have rights to invite speakers to campus. Others have rights to hear them. Those who wish to protest have rights to do so. No one, however, shall have the right or the power to use the cover of protest to silence speakers."

A couple of weeks earlier, Columbia was mired in another free speech debacle when it retracted a speaking invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Bollinger explained that Columbia had not been able to establish a conversation with the Iranian Embassy that would ensure Ahmadinejad's speech "would reflect the academic values" that are the hallmark of a university event.

The Ahmadinejad invitation had been made by Lisa Anderson, dean of the School of International and Public Affairs. Anderson had the right to invite speakers, Bollinger noted, adding that the event would have been in keeping with the open exchange that universities should protect.--C.M.F.