My head spins with the hypocrisy and play-acting that comprises Columbia University President Lee Bollinger’s life (“Lesson in Absurdity,” Editorial, Sept. 25).
In lobbing his “tough” questions, he behaved like a 98-pound weakling who kicks sand on the sleeping bully and then swaggers back to his blanket. When the bully wakes up, pounds him into the sand, takes his blanket and his girl, what will the pseudo-hero do then?
Throughout history, bullies have never ceased their murderous brutality because they were shown up or ridiculed.
When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is finally stopped, it will not be due to anything Bollinger did. It will be due to the men and women outside his ivory tower laying down their lives.
In our republic, even the pathetic are protected.
Mary Mola, Brooklyn
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On Sunday, I returned to New York from a Marine Corps Reserve mobilization that included service in Iraq. Monday morning, I walked up Broadway and saw a fleet of satellite trucks preparing to cover the Ahmadinejad talk and the resulting protests, counter-protests and counter-counter-protests.
Having seen crowd activity in Baghdad, Fallujah and Baqubah this summer, my curiosity was piqued. As an American, I was proud to observe all the freedom of speech being exercised.
There were plenty of points made that I absolutely detest, but freedom of speech should not be a conditional right.
As an alum of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, I am proud of the university for sticking to its guns on this one.
The talk provided a very effective forum in which to publicly upbraid the Iranian president for, among other things, providing EFPs and training to insurgents in Iraq, which are killing my brothers- and sisters-in-arms.
We did indeed put our money where our mouth is by inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia. And we demonstrated that, even during periods of significant national division, we are a great society, because of our commitment to democratic processes, which are necessarily messy, conflictual and challenging.
Finally, we actualized the ideals for which our servicemembers in Iraq ostensibly are fighting.
Good job, Columbia. Now extend this approach to the Manhattanville expansion by engaging more directly with the distressed residents of that neighborhood.
Dan McSweeney, Manhattan
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If you closed your eyes at Columbia last week and listened, you’d think you were listening to a speech by one of the Democrats in Congress.
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when you can’t tell the difference.
Chris Kanel, Hudson