When the president of Columbia University suggested that free speech was banned in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the accusation and invited Lee Bollinger to come and judge for himself.

Various parties on campus are now up in arms regarding Bollinger’s refusal to take up Ahmadinejad’s invitation and his ban on official visits to Iran by Columbia faculty members.

“I have an interest in going,” Bollinger said in an interview with the Washington Post, “but I decided that it’s just not appropriate to send anyone now.”