Columbia University is Complicit in All of Ahmadinejad's Evil Going Forward (September 24, 2007)
The following email was sent to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Class of 1980 "listserv" on November 1, 2007 in response to an email about upcoming events at the J-School. The email is reprinted here with the permission of its author.
Irena,
As journalists, I think many of us recognize the temporal nature of headlines. Today's scandal passes and the world moves on. However, I am permanently stuck on September 24, 2007 when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to our campus and spoke at the invitation of our university president,
Lee C. Bollinger. This is a day that I am honor-bound not to let any of us forget.
The vast majority of my father's family was burned in the crematoria of Auschwitz and Chelmno. My father, himself, was taken at age 16 to Auschwitz and witnessed the real-world implications of allowing genocidal maniacs to use democratic forums to promote their hateful views.
My dad's 5-year-old sister (gassed to death), his mother (gassed to death), his father (burned to death), his grandparents (gassed to death) and all but one of his uncles and aunts and cousins (burned or gassed to death) could not come to Columbia on September 24th to let their voices be heard. Nor could the Iranian women who Ahmadinejad has stoned, the gays he has murdered, the educators he has imprisoned and the millions of victims he has yet to destroy, but is actively working to eliminate.
Someone must speak for these uninvited. Someone must remember them. Someone must remind all of us that Ahmadinejad is not just another headline to be forgotten the next time Britney Spears is arrested for drunk driving.
I am writing to remind you that our University is complicit in all evil that Ahmadinejad perpetrates from September 24th on. There is an indelible stain on the soul of our school and we must never forget it.
I, for one, will not participate in any school events or donate further to the University until it realizes its moral failure and publicly acknowledges such. Each of you must chose for yourself whether or not to continue to support the university. But if you do, know the true price you are paying.
Dean Rotbart
MSJ-1980
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