Posted on 09/24/2007 10:14:15 AM PDT by radar101
Duncan Hunter, the Congressman from California, joined other Republican Presidential candidates over the weekend in condemning the upcoming address to Columbia University by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But Hunter went a step further by pledging that if the speech goes forth he will introduce legislation in Congress to cut off federal assistance from the University. All federal assistance. This would presumably include research and scientific grants for the sciences and medical school.
"If the left-wingers of academia will not support our troops, they, in the very least, should not support our adversaries," Hunter said in a statement accompanying a warning letter he wrote to Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia.
Bollinger has tried to meet the mounting criticism from Republican politicians head-on.
In a statement on the school's website on September 19th, Bollinger announced that he would introduce the Iranian President with a rebuke to Iran's treatment of women and its stance toward Israel and Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust.
Bollinter went on to say in the statement that hearing all ideas, no matter how "odious" is one of the basic tenets of a full education.
"I would also like to invoke a major theme in the development of freedom of speech as a central value in our society," Bollinger wrote. "It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas or our naiveté about the very real dangers inherent in such ideas. It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible."
The threat of cutting off federal funds is something the government and Congress have used before when law schools tried to keep JAG lawyers from recruiting on campuses because the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy discriminates against gays, violating university nondiscrimination policies.
The government won the argument in March 2005, when the Supreme Court upheld the so-called Solomon Amendment, a 1996 measure that allowed the government to tie federal funding to military and ROTC recruiting. It is unclear if that law would be applicable in the case of the Ahmadinejad speech, which has nothing to do with military recruiting.
Hunter says the speech and the recent "General Betrayus" Moveon.org ad are emblematic of the emergence of the "extreme left wing."
"Columbia University's hosting of Ahmadinejad is a slap in the face of every one of the 165,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq. As he speaks, his agents will be moving roadside bombs onto the battlefield to be used against America's military men and women," Hunter wrote
Hunter/Thompson: Dream Ticket
"Animal-Farm" hypocrite. Some ideas are more equal than others. The ROTC and the Minutemen are banned, but that swarthy little pipsqueak isn't.
Ping
. . . hich is a violation of the First Amendment, compliance with which is required as a condition of receiving any federal funds, including GSL eligibility for students. This angle should have been worked from the minute Columbia announced its invitation to Ahmadinejad to speak, and a suit should have been promptly filed.
Ok, I know this has been posted; but come bump it anyway!
MSM is running Duncan Hunter’s press release.
Come give the article a hit for positive reinforcement.
To Hell with Ahmanutjob. Let him speak if they what him. They should cut the money ‘cause they don’t allow ROTC on campus.
Washington Times too???
Bump1!!
A caller to Rush just talked about that very thing.
Vote for Duncan Hunter!!! It’s the Right thing to do.
Bump.
Looks like he’s starting to do the standard manipulations to get press coverage. That’s a win-win for him and for America. Some liberal college and Ahmeninutjob get the short end of the stick. I can live with that.
Thanks. Campaignsandelections.com has been very good about carrying candidates press releases.
bump
Ahmadinejad will either moon American academia, or he will recruit. Why else would he be speaking at Columbia at all?
I bet this Bollinger turd is nicer to Ahmadinejad than he has ever been to President Bush or the US military.
bttt
First...I like Hunter.
But, I hope we’re not going to overplay our response to this.
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