Bring leaders to campus, not to Low

At 11:03 p.m. two Thursdays ago, I received an email saying that Al Gore was coming to speak on the following Tuesday. Following this announcement was a registration link and the line, “Registration for both events will open on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 9 a.m.” At 9 a.m. the next morning, instead of running to get to my LitHum class on time, I sat in my room, trying to register for Al Gore’s speech. Much to my dismay the system failed to load—no doubt because everyone else was trying to register simultaneously. By the time I had successfully accessed the website, all registration had closed—even the wait list. It didn’t take long to figure out that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t get to register for the event—there has been no shortage of people complaining about wanting to go to this event but not being able to register. The World Leaders Forum events are meant to expose Columbia students to ideas and create dialogue. Yet, when they are hosted in Low Rotunda, there is only a small audience present to receive ideas and engage in dialogue.

Students are obviously excited that Columbia is hosting these events, but the sad reality of the situation is that most students can’t go due to the small size of Low Rotunda. This whole situation only exists because of somebody’s obnoxious decision that all of these events have to take place in Low Library, despite the fact that Roone Arledge Auditorium in Lerner Hall just sits empty. Yes, Low Library serves as a symbol of sorts. When a huge motorcade of Secret Service vehicles pulls up on College Walk and some dignitary walks up the steps to Low Library, it makes for a great photo op and is good for Columbia’s publicity. All this is great, except that when Low hosts high-profile speakers, the intended recipients of the speakers’ ideas do not actually receive them.

The World Leaders Forum website has the following to say: “Established in 2003 by Lee C. Bollinger, the World Leaders Forum is a year-round event series aimed to advance lively, uninhibited dialogue on the large economic, political, and social questions of our time.” A different section of Columbia’s own website publishes President Bollinger’s own statements regarding Ahmedinejad’s speech in 2007, where President Bollinger argues that “Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas—to understand the world as it is and as it might be.” Yet, as a community, we cannot confront ideas unless we are exposed to them.

The World Leaders Forum will fail to serve this purpose until it is accessible to a bigger part of the community, and there is no better way of making these events more accessible than to move them out of Low and into a bigger venue.

If President Bollinger insists that the World Leaders Forum is what he says it is—an opportunity for dialogue—then there is no reason for future events to be hosted in Low. Surely, a speaker’s message does not change with the venue in which it is delivered. Given the variety of participants in the World Leaders Forum, we as an institution are embracing the freedom of speech. We must also be an institution that embraces the right to listen. Without the latter, the former is infringed to the point at which it becomes inconsequential. I implore President Bollinger and the rest of the administration to consider a change of venue for future speakers.

The author is a Columbia College first-year.