Bnai Haman Inducts All 23 Columbia University Trustees in Recognition of Three-Month Anniversary of Ahmadinejad Speech on Campus
Three months after Iranian Dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University, a group of alumni and concerned citizens has selected the entire 23-member member Columbia University Board of Trustees for induction into is special membership. The group has already inducted Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and two faculty members who were responsible for inviting Ahmadinejad.
New York, NY (PRWEB) December 24, 2007 -- On the three-month anniversary of the speech by Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the campus of Columbia University, a group of alumni and concerned citizens have inducted the university's entire Board of Trustees into its exclusive membership society.
Bnai Haman, in a pre-Christmas meeting, voted unanimously to include all 23 members of the Columbia University Board among its 2007 inductees. They join Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger, who introduced Ahmadinejad and supported his campus visit, as well as John H. Coatsworth and Richard W. Bulliet, two academics who made the formal arrangements for the September 24, 2007 Ahmadinejad appearance.
The speech by Ahmadinejad set off a firestorm of worldwide condemnation, although Bollinger, Coatsworth and Bulliet defended the invitation as an act of academic inquiry and the Columbia Board of Trustees offered support by consistently remaining silent on the matter.
"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.
The new inductees, who have a dedicated web site at www.columbiatrustees-bnaihaman.com, are:
| | - 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
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Bnai Haman chose its name, which translated from Hebrew means 'Children of Haman,' because like the evil Haman, a 6th Century Persian who plotted to kill all Jews, Ahmadinejad, too, has expressed the desire to wipe Israel and the Jews off the map.
Bnai Haman works to remind the world of the lessons learned by the Ahmadinejad speech and to forewarn other universities and academics about the price to be paid for permitting dictators, terrorists and other villains to use their institutions as a platform for promoting hate speech.
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