Hopefully by college minds aren't as impressionable by madmen.

College students are adults. I don't see any problem with exposing young adults to differing viewpoints, as long as teachers do their best to put those ideas into context.

Did the University pay him a speaking fee? If they did, it seems like they could have probably have found a way to spend their money.

The guy's a kook -- he argued that it's ok to have the death penalty for homosexuality in Iran because there are no homosexuals.

I don't think that college kids need to be exposed to this scumbag. No holocast? No homosexuals in Iran? That's just ridiculous.

WTF????? Why would you want to expose people to such outrageous lies. If only one kid believes them, you've done a lot of harm.

I don't think this was so badly handled. The president of the university did a nice job of putting Ahmadinejad on the spot for some of the more controversial things he has claimed are true.

Allowed? Yes. Chosen, perhaps not. It seems that the university probably could have found a speaker with better things to say.

In response to Thor:I suspect that this choice was more a publicity stunt, both by Ahmadinejad and the school than a decision made with the best interests of students at the forefront. I couldn't agree with you more.

He has written letters attacking the United States and tells lies -- the holocaust never happened, there are no homosexuals in Iran. And, I suspect he does it all to draw attention away from problems within his country. We should not have given him an opportunity to do this.

In response to Bella:That's a very good point and if I'm not mistaken it's not the first time he's been accused of focusing on issues with the West to divert attention for domestic issues.

Back in 2005. he was accused of participating in the 1979-1981 Iran Hostage Crisis, assassinations of Kurdish politicians in Austria, support of or involvement in "terrorist" activities, torture, interrogation and executions of political prisoners in the Evin prison in Tehran. In my book, that's not much of a role model.

In response to Kat:Gosh, that's a great role-model for all of our aspiring evil overlords. :) Guess I should point out that none of these accusations stuck.

He's been accused of election fraud too. During the Iranian presidential election of 2005, some people, including Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist candidate who ranked third in the election, alleged that a network of mosques, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Basij militia forces, have been illegally used to generate and mobilize support for Ahmadinejad.

In response to Thor:Whoever invited him here to speak to students is off their f-ing rocker. IMO, it's on par with bringing in Hitler as a guest speaker.