Two years ago, a senator who has been responsible for the maiming and killing of American troops in Iraq was invited to speak at Columbia.  This week, that same senator scolded Columbia for inviting “a man who is directing the maiming and killing of American troops” to speak.  Many people felt that Senator McCain should not have been asked to speak at Columbia in 2006; many people also agree with him about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Both groups are wrong—objectionable views, whether they are coming from a jingoistic American neoconservative or a tyrannical Iranian dictator, must be heard and debated in a thriving academic community like Columbia.

In fact, one might even go so far as to say that McCain’s speaking event was less productive than Ahmadinejad’s will be.  While Ahmadinejad’s speech will be dominated by critical questions by members of the university community of the sort he never faces at home (half of the time is devoted to questioning), McCain’s speech involved no such component.  While the latter offered essentially a stump speech in support of his misguided foreign policy, the former will face a torrent of criticism from a diverse array of students who have been empowered by this event to address his outrageous statements and governance.

McCain may not understand the need for a productive dialogue with Iran.  However, Columbia students understand that failure to engage one’s adversaries on a diplomatic level leads to unnecessary wars such as the one Senator McCain so stubbornly supports in Iraq.  He was wrong then and he is wrong now—Columbia is right to begin the diplomacy that the Bush administration has failed to carry out, and the next president should be a true progressive who understands the need for engagement.