Bollinger, Columbia's President, in opening remarks challenged Ahmadinejad on the recent detentions of Iranian-American scholars including
Columbia alumnus Kian Tajbakhsh and on his comments that the Holocaust is fabricated and Israel should cease to exist. ``Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,'' Bollinger said as Ahmadinejad sat nearby on the stage. ``And so I ask you, why have women, members of the
Ba'hai faith, homosexuals and so many of our colleagues become targets of persecution in your country?'' Bollinger called on Ahmadinejad to allow Tajbakhsh, who was released on bail after more than four months in Tehran's Evin prison, to leave Iran whenever he wants. Bollinger also announced that the university is inviting Tajbakhsh, who works with George Soros's Open Society Institute, to teach as a visiting scholar. Bollinger's opening remarks were ``an insult to the information and the knowledge of the audience here,'' Ahmadinejad said at the beginning of his speech.