I was very pleased to hear in the comment section that students will be protesting their school’s decision to host Iranian Despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While I continue to maintain that the school should not have invited the leader of an official state-sponsor of terror, I’m happy to see students protesting his presence. The sign above comes from the student protest organizers themselves.

When the statement from student leaders was released, it said that they only have four days before the speech, while the school requires 7 days notice for a protest. According to students commenting here, as well the organizers’ Facebook account, it’s still on. Very good.

C/o Michelle Malkin, here are some details:

WHEN: Monday, September 24, 1:00-3:00
WHERE:
COLUMBIA STUDENTS (w/ Columbia ID’s): On campus, outside Lerner Hall
NON-COLUMBIA STUDENTS: The Columbia Gates. 116th and Broadway – we have secured a permit to stage a protest there.

WHO: YOU and your friends, along with Hillel, Hasbara, StandWithUs, Amcha, ZOA, The David Project, Columbia student groups, concerned citizens. Expected attendance is in the thousands.

WHY: Remember – the world is watching. This is a monumental opportunity to make our voices heard. Generations will ask us, What did we do to protest? Where were we?

NEED A RIDE?

Hasbara Fellowships will be organizing busses from various campuses and points around the city. They are planning to provide busses from: NYU, Rutgers, Baruch, Queens, Hofstra, Brooklyn, and from the earlier rally in front of the UN. YU and Stern students probably have their own busses, ask around. We also need people to step up and be campus leaders to organize the bussing and rallying. Please be in touch. More details will be forthcoming.

If you need a reminder as to why this is so important, the organizers have this video:

You can find signs here.

Meanwhile, over at the Columbia Spectator, you can see this comparison:

Christien Tompkins, CC ’08, co-chair of the United Students of Color Council and member of Students Promoting Empowerment and Knowledge, compared the invitation of Ahmadinejad to that of Jim Gilchrist and said he was “disappointed” in Bollinger’s leadership for going out of his way to denounce the Iranian head of state and but not the “racist” founder of the Minutemen Project.

Michelle rightly responds:

Because, like, opposing illegal immigration is just as bad as calling for the annihilation of Israel, pursuing nuclear revenge, and funding terrorism against American civilians and soldiers.

By the way, since Ahmadenijad has been given permission to visit Columbia University, he’s also allowed anywhere within 25 miles of that location. Basically, according to Fox News, that means Manhattan, part of New Jersey, and partially into Connecticut.