Columbia Spectator Refuses to Run World Can’t Wait Iran Quiz as a Paid Ad

On Tuesday, September 25th, the Columbia Spectator refused
to accept a paid advertisement from the World Can’t Wait-Drive Out the Bush
Regime organization. The ad features a graphic of a mushroom cloud and George
W. Bush’s face, with the headline “Who’s the Real Nuclear Threat?” This refusal
was on the grounds that the ad was too “inflammatory,” and that it could cost
the paper advertisers. A similar ad by the same organization was refused by
NYU’s Washington Square News, but that paper has now agreed to publish it.

In the wake of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit
to Columbia’s campus and all the attendant talk from President Bollinger and
others of the supposed threat he represents to world security, we think the
simple truth this ad illuminates, must not be suppressed. Ahmadinejad’s
policies and program represent a nightmare for humanity-but who actually has
the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, and threatens to use
them? Signing this statement signals a commitment to fight for this vital truth
to have the impact at Columbia’s
campus and beyond that it must. This is all the more true in the context of
events like the recent witch-hunt atmosphere created by the suppression of a
major paid ad by MOVEON.ORG which criticized a high-ranking U.S. military
official; with the very real possibility of a U.S. war against Iran; and with
Columbia and the Spectator presenting themselves as beacons of the free
exchange of ideas following Ahmadinejad’s visit. These are dangerous times, and
the suppression of an ad like the one described above would be part of a
significant step toward such ideas being ruled “out of order” in academia and
well beyond.

We, the undersigned, declare: Now more than ever, this ad
must run!

{kl_php}
$statementID = 14; // This is the ID for the statement you wish to use.
include($_SERVER[“DOCUMENT_ROOT”] . “/php/statements/form.php”);
{/kl_php}