I hesitate to say this...

because there's an obvious sense in which Lee Bollinger is the hero of the hour, and has done exactly the right thing: invite, and criticize. Listen, but take the occasion to (in the most literal sense) speak truth to power. Make clear that an invitation does not honor the dishonorable, and is about the interests of the listeners not that of the speaker. For once in the life of a "petty and cruel dictator," let him sit and listen to open and truthful criticism. The offer of a faculty position to Kian Tajbakhsh was an especially great move.

but...

but I can't get over the sense that he did exactly the wrong thing. One can refuse to invite. One can invite, and treat courteously, while relying on the general principle that such an invitation does not imply endorsement of the views expressed. But I'm not sure that inviting-and-insulting is the right thing to do; I was astonished to find myself in a bit of sympathy with Ahmadinejad's objections in the name of hospitality. The rules of hospitality are of a very different kind from the rules of intellectual discourse and debate-- but they're old and deep rules, not conditional on the extramural behavior or character of the guest, and I'm very uncomfortable with seeing them thrown overboard.

On a more mundane level, this might not be good for the general ability of universities to host controversial speakers. Such speakers always know they may face student protest, but it is something else to know that you may be introduced with a ten-minute denunciation. And when Bollinger crossed from questions, however rhetorical, for Ahmadinejad to answer into such (accurate!) personal descriptions as "cruel and petty dictator" or "ridiculous" or "I doubt that you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions"-- before Ahmadinejad had had the chance to say a word!-- it seems to me that he crossed the line into grave discourtesy,and may have seriously dampened the willingness of speakers to be hosted by universities where there views are likely to be disagreed with.

John Coatsworth's direct aggressive questioning of Ahmadinejad after the latter's remarks, and giving the latter a chance to respond, was terrific. Students openly laughing at Ahmadinejad when he said there was no homosexuality in Iran-- great. The guest who comes to a debate can be expected to debate, and the guest who makes a fool of himself can expect to be laughed at. But Bollinger's remarks seem different to me.

Again, no quarrel with a word Bollinger said; and he might have been spectacularly right to say it. But I'm not sure...