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America strikes again.

Recently I wrote about what many considered to be a censorship issue in the tasing of University of Florida student Andrew Meyer. This week I wish the cops at Columbia University in New York graduated from the same police academy as the ones at Gainesville did.

This past week, Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a visit to America and spoke at the 62nd session of the United Nations Assembly. As part of his itinerary, he also spoke with American Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders and gave an ill-advised speech at Columbia.

Before I begin my tirade on what I think of the Columbia University administration, let me preface my thoughts with this:

In a short interview segment for FOX News, John Coatsworth, a dean at Columbia said this of his school as a venue for prominent provocative and controversial figures to speak: "If Hitler were willing to engage in a debate, and in a discussion – to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly let him."

That can't be serious.

First, in Coatsworth's defense, I would guess that the question to which he responded to specifically named Hitler in a comparison to Ahmadinejad. However, university president Lee Bollinger’s introduction to Ahmadinejad's speech made it pretty clear that the administration didn't want to challenge the Iranian so much as belittle him.

While presenting Ahmadinejad, Bollinger called him a "petty and cruel dictator." He also criticized the Iranian president's thoughts on the Holocaust, which, at the most generous level, are that he wants more proof before admitting it actually happened and, at the worst, are outright denial.

But this is America and, unlike in Iran, free speech and the right to choose our beliefs is supposedly accepted and encouraged.

Discussion and debate certainly have a place in higher education. Columbia did after all invite Ahmadinejad to speak at the school, but introducing an invited speaker in such unfavorable terms does nothing to encourage peaceful communication.

Have a sense of self, Bollinger. You run one of the self-proclaimed finest institutions in the country. Think about the students at your Columbia. You gave them the green light to label the president of an entire country before they heard him speak. Think about our continued involvement in Iraq and Israel and the proximity Iran has to both. Bollinger may disapprove of Ahmadinejad, and it’s his right to do so, but one would hope he would take a much more diplomatic approach when addressing a foreign leader.

I hope Ahmadinejad has the sense and thick skin to shrug off the comments made by Bollinger. If his experience at Columbia becomes his lasting image of the American public, have we shown we have the right to question what he believes, and if not are we prepared to deal with the consequences?

How has this shown we are better than what the world's opinion of us already is? It hasn't.

I hope that Columbia continues to try and bring important political personalities to its campus in the spirit of healthy debate and goodwill towards understanding a different perspective. I hope the students on its campus are not swayed to act like their university president and allow biases to interfere with a search for greater understanding and education.

- Nick Krueger