The full text of Columbia University’s President’s speech is available here, and it’s worth reading in its entirity. Someone had to say what Bollinger said. It makes me conclude that, on balance, Columbia’s decision to invite Ahmadinejad was a good thing.

Because of Bollinger’s no-holds-barred denunciation of Ahmadinejad, I find myself in agreement with today’s editorial in the New York Times:

There are many reasons we find Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies and pronouncements loathsome. High on that list are his denial of the Holocaust, his call to wipe Israel off the map and his country’s sponsorship of terrorism. Equally loathsome is Iran’s denial of basic civil rights to its citizens, including the right of free speech.

So we are dismayed by the behavior of some of New York’s democratically elected representatives who denounced and threatened Columbia University for inviting the Iranian leader to speak there yesterday. We can imagine no better way to give hope to opponents of Iran’s repressive state than by showcasing America’s democracy and commitment to free speech. And we can imagine no better way to lay bare the bankruptcy of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s views than to have him speak, and be questioned, at a university forum.

Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger, defended the event as in the best tradition of America’s free speech, then freely told Mr. Ahmadinejad: You exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator. Mr. Ahmadinejad said he would not be affected by this unfriendly treatment and did a lot of bobbing and weaving. He showed his colors when, asked about Iran’s repression of homosexuals, he declared: “We don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” setting off hoots and derisive laughter.

Unlike Iran’s citizens, Americans have the right to laugh at leaders, as well as protest Mr. Ahmadinejad’s visit and Columbia’s decision to schedule his speech. The threats of possible sanctions against Columbia were an insult to that freedom. In an interview with The New York Sun, the speaker of New York’s Assembly, Sheldon Silver, warned that legislators might now take a different view of capital support provided to Columbia.

We hope cooler heads prevail once Mr. Ahmadinejad leaves town. And we hope that what Americans and Iranians will remember is that image of professors and students, in a true democratic forum, challenging the Iranian president for his Holocaust denial, his threats against Israel and the repression of Iran’s citizens.

On occasion, the Times gets it right.