yuhas_20070924

Columbia University: Hitler – Yes, Ahmadinejad – Yes, US Military – No

By: Steve Yuhas

Columbia University is said to be among the best of the Ivy League schools in America. So open to academic freedom is Columbia that the university invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to conduct a question and answer session at the university. Columbia is quite aware that the eyes of the world will be glued to what Holocaust denier, war provocateur and killer of United States troops in Iraq and Afghanistan says during his speech, but they don’t care – hell – they share his sentiments!

Without considering that some on the faculty at Columbia University have openly compared President Bush to Hitler, former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to Hermann Goering (not a very good comparison historically, but what can you ask from a professor of international affairs – oh wait – he should know history). One cannot talk about Columbia without remembering some of the best things to come out of the university in a very long time.

The best bang for the rhetorical buck came when Nicholas De Genova, a professor of anthropology and Latin American studies said that the flag of the United States was an “emblem of the invading war machine in Iraq today . . . the emblem of the occupying power.” He went further by calling on American forces to “frag” (murder) their military leaders in the field and prayed (well didn’t pray – there is a mandatory rule of atheism at Columbia – asked for “a million Mogadishus” (harkening back to the good old days of professorial joy by hoping for US forces to die at the hands of terrorists like 18 did in Somalia in 1993).

Columbia’s faculty and the university administration are not known for their friendliness to American; indeed, it seems that Columbia has a goal of being known as the most anti-American college in America. Proof of that can be found that in order to justify the speech by Ahmadinejad a dean for Columbia said that if Hitler were alive today that the university would invite him to speak as well. They want to talk to all world leaders, unless they are leaders of America or our allies or the evil state of Israel. Everyone else is welcome.

Israel has not been lost in the hatred of American allies and holds a special place of hatred at Columbia. First there was the letter from over 100 faculty members that compared Israel to South Africa as it relates to South Africa’s history of apartheid. Of course the real nutty professor, Hamid Dabashi, wanted to sue CNN after 9-11 for biased coverage and uses the term “Gestapo apparatchiks” to speak of those that support Israel’s right to exist. Not to be outdone by Dabashi another professor, Rashid Khalidi, wrote that Yaser Arafat (the now dead hyper-terrorist of the PLO) was “too flexible” with Israel. Yes, the intifada that Arafat thrust onto the people of Israel just did not leave enough dead Jews in the streets for Khalidi.

And these just begin that anti-Semitic hate that Columbia has become famous for. No wonder Ahmadinejad is willing to speak at the college – he will have a forum of like minded professors and administrators who share his hatred of Israel and America. If I were a despot – I’d pick Columbia too!

There was a time when Columbia was turning out more naval officers than the Naval Academy, but all of that changed when hippies began taking up positions of authority at the university. In 1968 Columbia forced out all vestiges of ROTC and turned their offices into the student club rooms for the Young Socialists and Young Communists. It was not until the 1980s when Columbia patriots were permitted to take ROTC classes again, this time from Fordham University. In 1990 Columbia decided that even the mention of ROTC classes was too horrifying for graduates so Columbia began removing ROTC classes from transcripts. Hatred for the military reached a new high, but money was at stake so Columbia decided to fight for their right to get rid of the military, but when it came time to choosing money or principle – they chose the dollars.

Columbia has fought right along with other Ivy League schools taken over by the Baby Boomers who believe the American military to be worse than the theocracies of the former Afghanistan and current day Iran. While military recruiters must have access to the university because Columbia wants to keep federal funds – it filed motions and was a great supporter of not allowing either ROTC or military recruiters at job forums or recruiting programs on campus. At this moment there is a letter from both the dean of the law school and law school faculty that they dislike the Supreme Court decision that forced them to follow the law as it related to access to schools for military recruiters.

If the belief in the brutality of the US military and the myth of United States goodness is so strong so as to speak it, why not practice it when it comes to money and kick ROTC and military recruiters off campus and forgo the federal money? Why take money from a government that you hate? Why allow military recruiters and ROTC near the campus if you hold so much contempt for what that money stands for?

The answer is simple hypocrisy of course, but nobody talks about hypocrisy when a university can gain the attention of the world by allowing Iran’s brutal leader to speak with impunity. Will gays be dismissed from his speech and will Ahmadinejad be told that people he would stone to death at home be in the audience? Will the professors that line up to hate America in word and print also line up to talk about the human rights abuses of Iran? Or, as I suspect, will they be silent – as they are when anti-Semitism is acquiesced to on campus or when supporters of our military men and women are thrown out?

Many influential Americans have ties to Columbia and they are being ignored. As many ask why a man with hatred for the United States, hatred for America troops, hatred for Israel and our allies and a man whose regime is helping to kill American troops around the globe is being given a forum in America – a forum that would be against the law in his own country – Columbia is digging itself into a new hole with the revelation that even Hitler would be allowed to speak there. What happened to education in America?

It has not been adequately explained by the Bush Administration why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being permitted to leave the grounds of the United Nations during his visit to the world body, but his movements should have been limited to the UN campus and, if possible, the office of the Republic of Iran. As he is introduced to the UN it is my hope that the United States delegations sits idle and that Israel not give him the honor of being in the room with him.

Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler and although Columbia believes that to be a great honor for a man to rise to – some of us remember the sacrifices made by those who came before us. We know that one day that the academic snobbery of Baby Boomers who so hate America that new Hitlers and other leading despots have open invitations to speak at universities across the country will retire. One can only hope and assume that the administration of colleges will be retaken by a patriotic group of Americans who understand our nation as a beacon of hope and goodness for the world.

Until then –Columbia will be remembered for being a patsy by a man who leads a nation of mullahs that are arming our enemies and assisting in the killing of American troops. It would be a good thing to see Ahmadinejad killed by a US air strike, but taking out Columbia is probably not an option – maybe there is a reason Iran’s leader is flying on a commercial flight. Even he must know how much the world hates him when even the French are talking about avoiding war.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on AM 600 KOGO and may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com