Columbia University’s decision to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while controversial on all fronts, presents an inherent dilemma stemming from our right to free speech. This state leader projects appalling views such as denial of the Holocaust and has a history of humanitarian abuses and suppression of student protests. Yet the true debate centers on the role of a university in providing a forum for discussion of ideas, both those acceptable and reprehensible.

Therefore this page, while in opposition to the views and practices of Ahmadinejad, must support Columbia’s decision to host such a forum. An essential role of an institution of higher learning is to expose students to controversial issues plaguing the world today and offer a stage to debate these issues. The fact that the speaker will address questions from the audience provides an opportunity for a true debate unlike most that college students will ever have the chance to experience.

We must not allow an individual opposed to basic human rights to stifle our own fundamental principle of freedom of speech. If we forfeit this belief even once, it is difficult to say where and how this line will be drawn in the future. A university should be at the forefront of enabling deliberation on all issues, not just the pleasant ones, of the world around us.