New York state and city legislators are considering withholding funds from Columbia University because of its invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address the school, the New York Sun reported. The Iranian president is scheduled to address the university, under heavy guard, in about three hours.
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told the newspaper, "There's some degree of capital support that has been provided to Columbia in the past. These are things people might take a different view of … knowing that this is that kind of an institution" that gives people like Ahmadinejad a public forum.