http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/columbia-says-it-knows-of-no-vi sit-to-iran/?hp
Columbia Says It Knows of No Visit to Iran By Sewell <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/author/schan/> Chan Officials at Columbia <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbi a_university/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=columbia+university> University were taken aback on Tuesday when the Mehr News Agency, a government-sponsored news outlet in Iran <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ir an/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=iran> , reported online that a delegation of professors and deans planned to <http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=618008> travel to Tehran to apologize for the behavior of Columbia's president, Lee <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/lee_c_bollinge r/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=lee+c.+bollinger> C. Bollinger, during the visit to New York by Iran's president, Mahmoud <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/mahmoud_ahmadi nejad/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=mahmoud+ahmadinejad> Ahmadinejad, last September. Citing information from an unnamed New York correspondent, Mehr reported that the contingent of professors and deans "plans to express regret for the insulting remarks Columbia University President Lee Bollinger directed at Ahmadinejad on Sept. 24 in his introductory speech." The Mehr article continued: A member of the delegation, who requested anonymity, said the main goal of the visit is to meet the Iranian president and officially apologize to him. "The delegation has also prepared its itinerary," he noted. He went on to say that the delegation also plans to visit Iranian universities in various cities and to hold talks with professors and students, and may even sign memorandums of understanding with some universities. He also said the delegation is interested in visiting seminaries and the shrine city of Qom. However, Bollinger has warned the delegation that their trip to Iran should be a private visit and should not be undertaken as an official visit endorsed by the university. The Mehr account generated considerable discussion on the Internet and resulted in an article in The New <http://www.nysun.com/article/69186> York Sun today that noted that the account could not be independently verified. Indeed. Columbia University said today that it had no knowledge of any planned visit by its professors or deans to Iran. In a statement, a university spokesman, David M. <http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/evp.html> Stone, said, "The university has no knowledge or information about the claims being made in the Iranian media." Richard W. Bulliet <http://www.columbia.edu/~rwb3/> , a Columbia historian of Iran who helped arrange Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit to the campus, also did not know of any plan for a group visit to Tehran, Mr. Stone said. A faculty member who is familiar with the situation said that Dr. Bulliet had received a travel grant from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs to visit Iran "for personal research purposes." Dr. Bulliet was traveling in Michigan and could not be reached to confirm the faculty member's account. Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit to New York has been a continuing source of debate at the Ivy League school. In 2006, Columbia invited Mr. Ahmadinejad to speak on campus but then quickly withdrew the invitation, citing security concerns. Then, last summer, Mr. Bollinger announced that the school would play host to the Iranian leader - who was preparing to visit New York to attend the opening of the United Nations General Assembly meetings - in exchange for Mr. Ahmadinejad's promise that he would answer questions from students and agree to face criticism of his views. The event ended up being a bit of a public-relations <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/columbia-free-speech-and-the-p resident-of-iran/> nightmare for Columbia. Many groups had called <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/columbia-is-urged-to-disinvite -irans-leader/> for the university to rescind the invitation, citing in particular Mr. Ahmadinejad's calls for the destruction of Israel and his casting doubt on whether the Holocaust occurred. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg declined to intervene, but pointedly noted that he <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/bloomberg-wont-listen-to-ahmad inejad/> had no interest in listening to Mr. Ahmadinejad. Before Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke on Sept. 24, Mr. Bollinger unleashed <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/protests-at-columbia-over-iran -leaders-speech/> a verbal tirade against the Iranian leader, telling him, "You exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator." Reaction <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/columbia-is-divided-by-bolling er-remarks/> was mixed. Some applauded Mr. Bollinger's remarks as brave; others called them rude, inhospitable and meandering. Mr. Bollinger appeared <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/bollinger-defends-columbias-tr eatment-of-ahmadinejad/> to fumble as he defended his decision. Debate on the subject has not seemed to die down. In December, The Washington Post reported that Mr. Bollinger had refused <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/15/AR200712150 1553.html> to take up Mr. Ahmadinejad's invitation to visit Iran and even barred faculty members <http://www.columbiaspectator.com/?q=node/28619> from making official visits to Iran. Today, Victoria de Grazia, a Columbia historian who signed a letter last November expressing concerns about Mr. Bollinger's regard for academic freedom, said she had not heard of any plans for a visit to Iran. "I have heard nothing about the trip," she wrote in an e-mail message, adding of Mr. Bulliet, "If he doesn't know about it, I would say it's a metropolitan legend." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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