There has been a lot of controversy in Columbia University's decision to invite Iranian President Ahmadinejad to come to the University for a guest lecture. Columbia's President Lee Bollinger issued a statement defending his decision in which he made some very good points. After reading his statement, I have to agree that it is important for us to hear what people like Ahmadinejad say so that we can see and hear for ourselves the beliefs and ideas of others. Even if they conflict with our own.

My problem with Columbia and the rest of our institutions of higher learning is their myopic approach to controversial figures. These universities open their doors to the Ahmadinejad's of the world and give them free access for them to espouse their ideas. Likewise, our universities have never met an extreme leftist figure that they did not like, no matter how outrageous, offensive, or discredited their beliefs are. Obviously this is due to the extreme bias to liberal causes that university faculties have.

But when it comes time to hear a conservative voice, suddenly the faculty are all filled with concern that the speaker may offend somebody on the campus. Or maybe they are afraid that the speaker may challenge the faculties own dogma that they preach to their students continuously. These universities always claim that it is important to promote an atmosphere of freedom on campus to allow the exchange of ideas. That is their justification for subjecting students to the most extreme and offensive liberal views that are out there.

Maybe it is time for them to live up to their claims and start allowing a more balanced and fair discussion on campus. Maybe it is time for our universities to allow conservative voices to be heard on an equal basis.

- Thomas Paine 2

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