Archive for September 26th, 2007
Quinn Roars Back
Dear Ms. Qadir,
Thank you for taking the time to express your views regarding the speaking invitation that was extended to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by Columbia University. This has been a hotly debated issue, and I appreciate hearing from you. As you know, I encouraged Columbia University President Lee Bollinger to withdraw his invitation to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at a forum at the University on Monday.
I strongly respect, and remain committed to, the freedom of speech. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has the right to speak anywhere here in the United States – that is part of what makes our country great. I do not support censuring Columbia University or withholding funding, as some have suggested.
However, I do not believe that the right to free speech requires providing a platform for hate speech. I remain convinced that all universities, Columbia included, should be laboratories for a healthy exchange of differing ideas. This episode was not about free speech; it was about providing a platform for a hatemonger.
The idea of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an honored guest anywhere in our City, much less providing him with the center stage at one of New York’s most prestigious centers of higher education to spread hisvitriol, is offensive to me.
While I fully believe it was absolutely within Columbia University’s rights to have extended this invitation, it also absolutely falls within my responsibilities to urge both University officials and lawmakers to exercise judgment when it comes to offering a venue for anyone who incites violence and murder, and who rules over his own country in a well-documented tyranny of torture and slaughter, as well. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad targets his vitriol against Americans at home and abroad, as well as against Israelis, Jews, women, gays and lesbians, and people of many other races and religions.
The request that I made of Columbia University was not based on issues of academic freedom or freedom of speech – I cherish and respect these pillars of our democracy. Rather, it was a request to carefully consider the ramifications of, in any way, legitimizing the twisted rhetoric and terrorism of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Credentialing someone who is incapable of a dialogue that is academic, honest or democratic is certainly permissible, but it is in no way responsible, nor is it respectful of the Iranian families who struggle at the hands of this dictator.
I am hopeful that you will grant this viewpoint the same level of consideration that I have given yours. Again, I thank you for your correspondence and recognize that it was offered with integrity – the very quality that I believe all American lawmakers, leaders and scholars should strive to perpetually honor.
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
