...the fact that the Iranian president would be allowed to speak at Columbia University?

To me, it would be if he WASN'T allowed to speak.

When did we become afraid of words and ideas? When did we decide that we don't need to KNOW what people like this are thinking? When did we decide it was okay to suppress freedom of speech or even freedom of thought? Those things scare me...

The guy's a nutjob, by all accounts...including those of Iranian-Americans...but I believe you don't change people by force. You do it by example. This guy isn't going to change, ever...but maybe the fact that he is allowed to speak his mind in the United States while no American leader would have the same freedoms and protections in Iran currently will impact on citizens of Iran...maybe it already has, in a way that having a carrier group in the Persian Gulf never will...