Bollinger and the school have been attacked for days by politicians who said it was wrong to give the Iranian leader a platform and by Jewish leaders offended by Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust.
On Monday, page-long ads appeared in newspapers lambasting the school's decision. Some state lawmakers said they would carefully examine any future funding requests by the school.
That last statement about lawmakers issuing a veiled threat to cut off funding to the school brought back memories of a similar incident that occured in UT Arlington, my alma mater. The lounge in the engineering building used to contain flags of all the countries from which students had come down to study at UTA...which at last count is 123. The purpose was to celebrate the diversity of the student community. It was truly a sight to behold, seeing all the flags draped from the atrium. For this reason the space was called "Hall of Flags".In 2006, during the celebration of the International Week, some students of Vietnamese American origin protested the hanging of the national flag of Vietnam. For them and many other Vietnamese Americans who later joined in the protest, the flag was representative of the Communist government and it's decades long oppression of it's people.
The University administration's stance was stated by President Spaniolo in this statement:
By displaying these flags, the University is not endorsing these nations or their politics or policies; we are supporting the UT Arlington students and alumni who come from these nations. The flags represent students’ countries of origin, not governments.
What should been an internal dispute within the University community turned into a political fracas when several state lawmakers stepped in and issued statements to the effect that state funding for the school could be affected if the Vietnamese flag was not taken down. After much deliberations, the administration decided to pull down not just the Vietnamese flag, but all the other 122 flags and explore other ways (read between lines "politically correct") to celebrate student diversity.
The fact that lawmakers threatened to cut off funding may not be the sole reason for the administration to take the drastic decision, but it definetly was a prime cause. And I was such a fool to think that universities were autonomous entities with minimal external influences. So it came as no surprise to me when Mr. Lee Bollinger launched his tirade against the visiting President, calling him a petty and cruel dictator among many other things.
People may applaud Mr. Bollinger's actions for his tough remarks, but it was done more out of external compulsions rather than his own initiative. For me it essentially diluted the meaning of his comments. Hence, should he have taken a tough stance or not, should he have been more tactful or not and all other related questions are utterly meaningless for me.
