Columbia Stands by Iranian Visit

Columbia University said it does not plan to call off a speech by President Ahmadinejad of Iran despite pressure from critics including the City Council speaker, who said the Ivy League school was providing a forum for "hate-mongering vitriol."

The Iranian president is traveling to New York to address the U.N.'s General Assembly. He was scheduled to appear Monday at a question-and-answer session with Columbia faculty and students, as part of the school's World Leaders Forum.

The City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, called yesterday for the university to rescind the invitation, saying "the idea of Ahmadinejad as an honored guest anywhere in our city is offensive to all New Yorkers." She said he was coming to the city "for one reason — to spread his hate-mongering vitriol on the world stage."

Mr. Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust "a myth" and called for Israel to be destroyed.

His planned appearance at Columbia also was condemned by Jewish groups including the Jewish Defense Organization, which described Mr. Ahmadinejad as "the Hitler of Iran."

But a Columbia spokesman, Robert Hornsby, said yesterday that there was no plan to cancel the appearance, though the university dropped plans for an Ahmadinejad speech last year because of security and logistical problems. The decision came after a Jewish activist group blasted the university over the invitation.

The White House today said that Columbia had every right to allow the Iranian president to speak.

"We're proud that people can come to our country and speak freely," a White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, said. "It would be wonderful if some of the countries that take advantage of that here allowed it for their own citizens there."

The Columbia president, Lee Bollinger, in announcing Mr. Ahmadinejad's upcoming appearance, described the event as part of "Columbia's long-standing tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate." He said the Iranian president had agreed to answer questions on Israel and the Holocaust.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's trip to New York ignited debate earlier this week over his rejected request to lay a wreath at ground zero. The State Department calls Iran a state sponsor of terror, and politicians and families of September 11, 2001 victims were outraged that its president might visit the site of the 2001 terror attacks.

Police rejected Mr. Ahmadinejad's request, citing construction and security concerns. In an in interview to air Sunday on "60 Minutes," Mr. Ahmadinejad indicated he would not press the issue but expressed disbelief that the visit would offend Americans.