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Free speech, not free soapboxes

A FEW weeks ago, the Iranian Embassy called Columbia University and asked it to host a speech by controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Columbia President Lee Bollinger happily obliged. And then the backlash started.

It seems like everyone, left and right, had a cross to bear. New York tabloids had a field day with headlines like "Madman Mahmoud" while the U.S. government was dismayed. Human rights activists deplored the treatment of women and homosexuals in the Islamic Republic and Jewish groups marched against Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial. Finally, William Kristol, speaking on behalf of the right, cried foul that Columbia would "host the president of a terrorist regime

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Brenda Gunn, the director of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library and the Harrison Institute for American History, Literature and Culture, explores how students can approach the collections with curiosity, and how this can deepen their understanding of history. From exhibitions to the broader museum world, she reflects on the vital work of archivists in ensuring that even the quietest and oppressed voices are heard.