Columbia University conflates free speech with poor judgment. They have every right to invite Ahmadinejad; it’s just poor judgment. Bollinger’s characterizing himself as a defender of free speech is belied by the Minuteman incident, and his refusal to afford the U.S. military the same rights to speak on campus, and Columbia’s Middle East Center’s declaration that it would not post internships for the Middle East Forum because the political position the Forum takes is inconsistent with acceptable discourse in the Columbia faculties’ opinion.

That said, while Bollinger wishes to embrace Ahmadinejad and provide him with a platform, other men have done much more to defend free speech and free expression. Just out from the Middle East Quarterly is an interview with two of them: Naser Khader and Flemming Rose, both of whom reflect on their involvement in and the aftermath of the Danish Cartoon Controversy. Here.