A few last thoughts on what statements got applause lines from the students at Columbia yesterday and which did not.

First of all, the 2-3000 or so students on the lawn where I was sitting gave President Bollinger a standing ovation after his 10 minute long skewering of Ahmadinejad.

Second, the students on the lawn did not clap with anywhere near the same intensity as those in the actual audience. The only two instances where there seemed to be any acknowledgement of Ahmadinejad’s remarks were the couple of times that he mentioned the plight of the Palestinians.

Finally, the students were really, really interested in what Ahmadinejad had to say. And that lasted about five minutes into his speech when 4-6000 eyeballs seemed to gloss over in unison.