Careful - You Might Pull a Muscle

From patting yourselves on the back so hard.

Poor Columbia.  This whole thing has devolved into exactly the kind of political/media circus we've all expected, complete with self-satisfied proclamations on the part of Columbia's president that he will "ask tough questions," the inevitably clueless, morally equivalent knee-jerk response of student activists about how can that be fair, since we didn't "ask tough questions of the Minutemen racists," and an article in the Columbia Spectator with a comments section that has devolved into a flame war wherein the most scathing insult the students can muster is to call people "stupid." Granted, they are deft in their use of synonyms, but still...

But that whooshing sound you hear is the entire campus missing the point.  Several points, really, the most important of which is the simplest:  What, exactly, do they hope to accomplish by hosting this man, and what do they think will actually be accomplished by doing so?

According to the comments section, here's what some folks believe will be accomplished:

It's interesting that people constantly raise Hitler and Nazi Germany. Under Nicholas Murray Butler, Columbia got involved in a controversy back then when it tried to send a message of contragulations to, I think, Heidelberg, but was seen as an endorsement of Nazism.

Of course, today, we can see such criticism to be hollow and motivated by hysteria, but it was hard to do so at the time.

In time, people will think the same of the criticism of this invitation and recognize how forward-looking Columbia actually is.

Ah, so by inviting a crazy homicidal racist head of state to campus, Columbia will cement its reputation as "forward-looking." Nice to know that even in a high-stakes situation, the academy can still focus on the low-stakes payoff.

Now let me tell you, as a seasoned academic PR professional, what will actually be accomplished by hosting this visit:  a massive PR opportunity for a crazy dude, who will be able to use it to show that The Great Satan cannot possibly withstand his personal power, that the intelligentsia were cowed by his masterful arguments, and that America is a paper tiger. Do you think anyone in Iran will hear actual unedited audio, or see photos of the protests?  Do you think that maybe, just maybe, propagating those false impressions might inspire people to violence? But hey, as long as Columbia can be seen as "forward-looking," the rest is just details, right?

In addition, you've just called down a huge pile of crap upon your pr folks and donor managers. Not that my personal interest makes me biased... 

Ironically, after the firestorm of media dies down, I'm thinking that "forward-looking" is probably not going to be the adjective most commonly used to refer to Columbia.