NEW YORK -- Its proponents, including Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and the Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, contended that having Iranian Dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speak on campus would be a big step in the direction of mutual understanding.

Instead, Bollinger and Columbia University stepped into a black hole of shame, from which there is no escape.

What has the passage of a year wrought?

Only a better understanding of just how misguided Bollinger, John H. Coatsworth (the SIPA Dean), Richard W. Bulliet (the professor who initiated the A-Jad invitation) and the entire Columbia University Board of Trustees were.

Columbia University was played to the max by Ahmadinejad, who basked in the credibility his appearance provided for his gay-bashing, women-stoning, anti-American, destroy-Israel agenda. Bollinger and Columbia University have been accessories to every action of A-Jad since September 24, 2007. And, Bollinger and Columbia University will go down in history as having been duped by one of the 21^st Century's most evil leaders.

What else has time revealed about the 2007 A-Jad speech at Columbia? Like a politician who serves his or her entire career with distinction, and then is caught in a lurid scandal, Columbia’s biographers and obituary writers will forever associate the school with a man who openly calls for Holocaust II against the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

We strongly suspect that Columbia has paid a financial price, as well, for its embrace of A-Jad. We know alumni donors who’ve cut or eliminated their contributions to the school in the wake of the September 24^th blasphemy. And really, there is no way to know which major domo donors who might have once considered a major gift to Columbia have reconsidered.

One year later A-Jad and his hate-filled regime are stronger and more menacing than ever. As for Bollinger, Coatsworth, Bulliet and the other vermin who disgraced themselves and their university, we see no signs that they’ve managed to redeem their tarnished reputations even an iota.

In Jewish tradition, one remembers those who have died each year on the anniversary of their deaths by saying a special Yizkor prayer and lighting a candle. This September 24^th, many Columbia University alumni and friends of the school will be lighting a candle for Columbia University to commemorate the day its morality perished.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 --  While Iranian Dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke about Israel to his supporters in southern Iran, telling them "the world powers established this filthy bacteria, the Zionist regime, which is lashing out at the nations in the region like a wild beast," the Board of Trustees of Columbia University completed nearly 5 months of absolute public silence about Ahmadinejad.

Five months ago, on September 24, 2007, Columbia University provided Ahmadinejad a forum in which he was allowed to spout his venom against Israel, the Jewish people, and the United States.  Yet the 23-member board of the University officially has not publicly said one word of condemnation of Ahmadinejad and what he espouses or represents. (Lee C. Bollinger is a member of the Board, but his introductory remarks were not the University's official position.)

Today is no different.

While UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called Ahmadinejad's remarks "unacceptable and unforgivable," according to the Jerusalem Post,  it appears the Board of Trustees of Columbia University does not agree.

Edmund Burke gave the world this well-known quote:  "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

There is no question but that the Board of Trustees of Columbia is doing nothing.  The only question is, are they good men (and women)?  We report -- you decide.

• Armen A. Avanessians – Goldman, Sachs & Co.
•  A’Lelia Bundles – Author, On Her Own Ground
•  José Cabranes – United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
•  Stephen Case – Cohen & Company, LLC
•  William V. Campbell – Apple Inc. and Opsware Inc. (Board member)
•  Patricia M. Cloherty – Delta Private Equity Partners, LLC
•  Kenneth Forde – Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
•  Eric Holder – Covington & Burling
•  Ellen Oran Kaden – Campbell Soup Company
•  Ann F. Kaplan – Circle Financial Group
•  Mark E. Kingdon – Kingdon Capital Management
•  Marilyn Laurie – Laurie Consulting, Inc.
•  Gerry Lenfest – Philadelphia Museum of Art (Board Chairman)
•  Philip Milstein – Ogden CAP Properties, LLC
•  Vikram Pandit – Formerly with Morgan Stanley
•  Michael B. Rothfeld – Theatrical producer and private equity investor
•  Joan Edelman Spero – Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
•  Esta Stecher – The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
•  Kyriakos Tsakopoulos – KT Communities Corporation
•  Savio Tung – Investcorp International, Inc.
•  Faye Wattleton – Center for the Advancement of Women
•  Richard E. Witten – The Orienta Group
•  Dr. Clyde Y. C. Wu – Wayne State University School of Medicine
 

And so it begins. 

Robert Kraft, who continued to funnel large financial contributions to Columbia University even after the University invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to disgrace its campus, has tasted the power of the ‘Curse of Ahmadinejad.’

Standby.  Kraft is just the first of many Columbia University apologists who will find their once good fortunes bankrupted.

In what many believe is the greatest Super Bowl upset ever, the New York Giants emerged victorious, trumping the previously 18-0 New England Patriots in the final seconds of the game following a truly miraculous 83-yard, 12-play drive.  During that drive, Giants quarterback Eli Manning was swarmed under by Patriots defenders, only to emerge from the scrum to throw a game-saving pass to David Tyree, who caught the ball on the tips of his fingers and steadied it with his head as he fell to the ground.

Somewhere in heaven, the spirits of Mordechai and Esther are smiling broadly.

Don’t believe this relates to the Ahmadinejad speech?  Don’t believe that Robert Kraft is now cursed? Be patient.  In the months and years to come, you will likewise see the dreams and careers of other Columbia University perpetrators – including Lee C. Bollinger, John H. Coatsworth and Richard W. Bulliet – slip through their hands like the Super Bowl XLII trophy that Robert Kraft had oh-so-close to his grasp.

You see, Columbia University committed a crime against decency when it invited Ahmadinejad to speak on campus last September 24th.  A-Jad is an avowed anti-gay, anti-women, anti-American, anti-Semite who dreams of nuking Israel and then America off the face of the planet.

The Columbia University administration, led by the deeply, deeply misguided Bollinger, invited A-Jad to speak on campus in the name of academic freedom.  Bad enough.

What is worse, however, is that the Board of Trustees of Columbia University, of which Kraft is a member emeritus and large donors such as Kraft, remained publicly silent.  Deadly silent.

We will leave it to heavenly judges to decide whether the many good things that Kraft has done in his life are to be offset by his acquiescence in the matter of the genocidal A-Jad.  But what is undeniable is this: Kraft is more likely to be remembered for this year’s utterly amazing Super Bowl loss than for his previous or future victories. 

There once was a powerful and self-confident statesman in ancient Persia who – like Kraft – thought himself invincible.  Haman’s plan was to murder all the Jews, just like Ahmadinejad’s current ambition.  Both men failed to see that all their earthly powers didn’t amount to fingernail dirt on the cosmic plane. 

Haman was hung on the very gallows he built for the Jews.  Ahmadinejad, too, will fall to his own evil schemes.  And as for Kraft, Bollinger, Coatsworth and Bulliet – not to mention the 22 members of the Columbia University Board of Trustees – well, we wouldn’t be betting on their winning any Super Bowls anytime soon.

 

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On the eve of the SuperBowl, the owner of The New England Patriots has been named a recipient of the “Franklin Delano Roosevelt Acquiescence Award.”

Bnai Haman voted unanimously to confer the Roosevelt Acquiescence Award on Robert Kraft, owner and CEO of the New England Patriots since 1994.  The group is actively engaged in reminding the world of the harm that follows from allowing those who preach hate and genocide – such as Iranian Dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – to use well respected democratic universities as a platform.

Bnai Haman noted that Kraft, an alumnus of Columbia University and a trustee emeritus, went ahead and announced a major donation to Columbia’s athletic program even after the infamous September 24, 2007 appearance at Columbia of Ahmadinejad.

“Like Franklin D. Roosevelt, who history has demonstrated could have saved many, many thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust but chose not to, Kraft could have been publicly outspoken against the Ahmadinejad speech – both before and after -- but remained silent,” Bnai Haman said in conferring the Roosevelt award on Kraft.

Bnai Haman acknowledged the many worthy causes – both Jewish and non-Jewish that Kraft and his family have funded over the years.  “In our playbook, however, victory in one arena doesn’t mitigate a moral silence elsewhere,” Bnai Haman said.

Historian Lucy Dawidowicz has noted that while Hitler lost World War II, his “War Against the Jews” was actually successful, thanks in part, to Roosevelt’s acquiescence.  Likewise, while the Patriots may be a success on the gridiron and Kraft may be feted for his many charitable contributions, Bnai Haman says Kraft had the power to publicly and effectively ostracize Columbia for its invitation to Ahmadinejad but failed to use it.
 

“When we weighed all the evidence, and with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, we realize that the troika of Bollinger, Coatsworth and Bulliet couldn’t have succeeded without the support of the Board of Trustees,” Bnai Haman said.  “These 23 men and women must also be remembered for their role in the A-Jad speech,” the group said.

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Where is the righteous indignation we might expect to hear from (Alice) Faye Wattleton, co-founder and president of the Center for the Advancement of Women? 

Why hasn't Ms. Wattleton -- an outspoken advocate for women -- said diddlysquat about the fact Columbia University, where she is a member of the Board of Trustees, permitted one of the world's greatest oppressors of women to come to its campus and speak his vile message to the world?

Why wasn't Ms. Wattleton in front of Columbia's Lerner Hall on September 24, 2007, trying to block Iranian Dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from making his infamous speech?  She might have rallied women's rights advocates from around the nation to join her outside the hall in protest.

But no.  Ms. Wattleton, like other members of the Board of Trustees, spoke the loudest via her silence.  Dead, ghastly silence.

CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY

Grainy still shot taken from a video of a woman being stoned to death for alleged crimes against chastity.  These day, the Iranians, in a bow to world opinion, are more likely to just hang women offenders, preserving their stones for Zionist offenders.

We don't toss around the word hypocrite lightly.  But we do think the former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation and its longest tenured leader in history should be embarrassed to call herself a women's advocate.  What?  Iranian women don't count?

The fact that women in Iran are third-class citizens, who are routinely stoned on charges of adultery (whether or not true) and forced to shroud themselves not only in burkas but in academic and political darkness seems not to faze Ms. Wattleton.

To read her official Columbia University biography is to see just how gloriously the rest of the world regards her, including the bestowers of 14 honorary degrees.  But we note that none of those honors came from the University of Tehran nor the Planned Parenthood chapter in Esfahan.

So go forth Ms. Wattleton and collect your honorary degrees and inclusions on the "Best" and "Top 100" list.  The more of them you receive the more vacuous is the space reserved in your soul for common decency.  Some day the girls and young women you seek to inspire and support will grow to hate you for you duplicity.  Can you blame them?

How surprised we were to read that Esta Stecher, a member of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University, has been honored by both the Anti-Defamation League (2001) and the United Jewish Appeal (2003).

After all, Ms. Stecher has been publicly silent on the issue of the worst anti-Semitic national leader since Adolph Hitler, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

While Ahmadinejad used the prestige of Columbia University to deliver his message of hate and villany to a global audience, Ms. Stecher and the other 22 members of the Columbia board sat in silence and have remained silent on the matter to this day.

Nazi Germany had its Jewish collaborators, too.  They were often referred to a Judenrats.  One large difference: by cooperating with Hitler and his henchmen, many of the Jewish collaborators saved their own lives and those of family members.

What did Ms. Stecher have to gain by allowing Ahmadinejad to cast a permanent stain on the very soul of Columbia, where she, herself, obtained her J.D. in 1982?

Goldman Sachs Web Page Featuring Esta E. Stecher

No honor Ms. Stecher has received to date or ever will receive from this point forward will erase or even dull the mark of shame she must bear for her acquiescence to the A-Jad speech.

Ms. Stecher had two choices to avoid the verdict of history: 1.) Speak out publicly against the speech.  2.) Resign in protest.

She did neither.  So much for the ADL and UJA honors.

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Note:  Esta Stecher is not shy.  She serves as general counsel and a managing director of Goldman Sachs & Co. 

Public records show her date of birth as March 4, 1957.  They also suggest she has two children, Michael J. (23) and Emily R. (20). 

According to The Huffington Post, Ms. Stecher donated $2,300 to the Christopher Dodd campaign in 2007.  Her husband, Jamie, has donated to the John Kerry campaign and the John Edwards campaign, both in 2004.  Jamie B.W. Stecher is a partner with Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP in Manhatann.  He, too, has been active with the ADL.

Does Columbia University Trustee Ellen Organ Kaden's support of the September 24, 2007 campus speech by Iranian Dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hint that she supports the anti-gay, anti-American, anti-women, anti-Semitic views of the Ahmadinejad?

Moreover, we wonder if Ms. Kaden, who is a senior vice president of Campbell Soup Company, has the support of Campbell Soup in her silence as a Columbia Trustee?

Perhaps Campbell Soup is hoping to sell more tomato soup to the Iranians and other terrorist-backing fanatics?

Cambell Soup Web Page Featuring Ellen Oran Kaden

The connection between Campbell Soup, Ms. Kaden, Ahmadinejad and Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger is not one the mainstream media has detailed.

Ms. Kaden, who has been at Campbell Soup since April 1998, reports directly to Douglas R. Conant, president and chief executive officer.  Certainly Mr. Conant must be aware:

A.) Ms. Kasdan is a member of the Columbia University Board. 

B.) That the Columbia Trustees have allowed Lee C. Bollinger to retain his job after allowing Ahmadinejad to speak on campus. 

C.) That Ahmadinejad is a virulently gay-killing, anti-American, anti-Semite.

Unlike the folks on the Columbia Board, who answer to no one, Campbell Soup is publicly traded and hence Conant and Kaden must answer not only to shareholders, but to their customers.

When consumers buy Campbell's soups; V8 drinks; Prego sauces; Pepperidge Farm snacks and other products, are they voting for Iranian repression of gays, women and university professors?

If Ms. Kaden didn't support the A-Jad-Bollinger speech, she had an obligation to speak out publicly or resign from Columbia University's Board.  She did neither.

Her silence is a de facto endorsement.  Let's see if Campbell Soup, too, remains silent on the issue of Ahamadinejad.