Bollinger In Deeper Yogurt Than He Thinks
Columbia University has managed to find itself in yet another fire storm and Lee Bollinger's ineptitude is on full display yet again. This time I don't think he is going to wiggle out of a media feeding frenzy as he has in the past. Just a few weeks ago he was forced into making the all-too-common University Presidential Affirmation that 'yes we really do support free speech and open dialogue' yadayada. Here are some excerpts from Bollinger's public statement regarding the school's invitation of Iran's President Ahmadinejad to speak:
"Let me also repeat from my earlier statement today my core belief that the example of freedom we set here in the United States , and especially at American universities...most Iranian students would dearly love the kind of freedom American students have..."
"Freedom to speak, pursue ideas, and even to hear and evaluate viewpoints totally objectionable to our own is central to America ’s greatness. It is also an essential value of our universities and, indeed, of our civil society. We are not afraid of words from the likes of President Ahmadinejad." ([edit.] but apparently we are afraid of the words of Jim Gilchrist)
Little did Bollinger know that in such a short time he would actually have to seem to be living up to these words. Egad. Now he has got Bill O'Reiily asking alumni to withhold donations just as he's launched a $4 billion fund-raising campaign (more here). Not that your typical Columbia grad turns on every word that Bill O'Reilly says, but this is more damaging than you think. The real money that flows into Columbia comes from elderly successful men who attended Columbia in the 1940s and 50s and who are now departing the scene. These men are usually up from nothing New Yorkers who credit their Columbia education/experience for their success in life and have a fond memories of the university as it was during that time. Any suggestion to this generation of men that Columbia is not what it used to be (and it decidedly is not) in terms of institutional principles will be damaging. Scenes of spoiled brat twenty year-olds running amok and acting like bullies will make your typical big money Columbia alumnus cringe. Rich Jewish Columbia alums have already lost faith in general due to the university's love affair with radical Palestinianism. Will Bollinger now preside over the disillusionment of that core group of successful alumni from the 40s and 50s with his solicitude the of the mindless, immature radicals running herd in Morningside Heights? I think he will. We'll see.
"Let me also repeat from my earlier statement today my core belief that the example of freedom we set here in the United States , and especially at American universities...most Iranian students would dearly love the kind of freedom American students have..."
"Freedom to speak, pursue ideas, and even to hear and evaluate viewpoints totally objectionable to our own is central to America ’s greatness. It is also an essential value of our universities and, indeed, of our civil society. We are not afraid of words from the likes of President Ahmadinejad." ([edit.] but apparently we are afraid of the words of Jim Gilchrist)
Little did Bollinger know that in such a short time he would actually have to seem to be living up to these words. Egad. Now he has got Bill O'Reiily asking alumni to withhold donations just as he's launched a $4 billion fund-raising campaign (more here). Not that your typical Columbia grad turns on every word that Bill O'Reilly says, but this is more damaging than you think. The real money that flows into Columbia comes from elderly successful men who attended Columbia in the 1940s and 50s and who are now departing the scene. These men are usually up from nothing New Yorkers who credit their Columbia education/experience for their success in life and have a fond memories of the university as it was during that time. Any suggestion to this generation of men that Columbia is not what it used to be (and it decidedly is not) in terms of institutional principles will be damaging. Scenes of spoiled brat twenty year-olds running amok and acting like bullies will make your typical big money Columbia alumnus cringe. Rich Jewish Columbia alums have already lost faith in general due to the university's love affair with radical Palestinianism. Will Bollinger now preside over the disillusionment of that core group of successful alumni from the 40s and 50s with his solicitude the of the mindless, immature radicals running herd in Morningside Heights? I think he will. We'll see.
posted by Donny Baseball at 3:38 PM
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