At the very least, this situation demonstrates that there are no clear rules, protocols or procedures in connection with inviting individuals to speak on US college campuses. Are they invited to speak as distinguished individuals, are they invited to debate their views, or are they invited to come and face a gauntlet? All of these circumstances have their place, depending on the speaker, the content of the speech, the venue and what was said in connection with the invitation. Unfortunately, in this situation, what was said in connection with the invitation—nothing that formally clarified what Ahmadinejad should expect, or nothing that made clear that Bollinger, his putative host, would put the boot in him—allowed Ahmadinejad to play the insulted guest and left Bollinger open to the charge of rudeness. Of course Ahmadinejad was disingenuous when he acted surprised at what happened: based on what was in the press he knew that Bollinger was going to say something very critical about his positions on almost everything. He knew, too, that a significant part of his audience would be Jewish and that their reaction to him would be cold hatred at best, or, more likely, open hostility. I’d be very surprised if, before going to Columbia, he didn’t say he was going into the Lion’s Den, or whatever the Persian equivalent of that is. He is a provocateur and would have been disappointed if he’d failed to provoke. To attack such an individual, as Bollinger did, was not morally wrong; indeed, it was morally imperative. The more the shame, then, that Bollinger failed to make clear, with a formal pronouncement, that: Ahmadinejad was invited because he was the leader of a large nation who held views that most Americans, including the college president, found morally repugnant, ignorant and dangerous, and that he was invited to come and debate and defend his views in front of an audience that could and would challenge him. If that had happened, Ahmadinejad would have accepted or declined on that basis. If he had declined, he would have shown himself to be cowardly bigot, afraid to be challenged in public on his views; or, if he had accepted, he wouldn’t have been able to act like an insulted guest and portray Bollinger as a rude host. Given the unique nature of US college campuses, it would seem that there is sufficient flexibility to invite just about anyone, even Hitlers, to come to a public forum. BUT, such individuals must not be invited as distinguished guests to be received with honor. Instead such individuals should be invited as controversial guests, with views that many find repugnant, and be invited to debate and defend such views in front of an audience that will vigorously challenge them. It should not be too difficult for colleges to make clear, at the time an invitation is made, what the invitee should expect: distinguished speakers should expect to be received with honor; repugnant provocateurs should expect to be received with hostility and strong challenges. That way even a creep like Ahmadinejad could be invited without the inviting party engaging in behavior that “validates and even reifies the structures of oppression Ahmadinajad represents.”