Despite scathing condemnation from national and city politicians, Columbia University has resisted pressure to cancel an appearance by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on the New York City campus on Monday, ABC News reported. “Iran is an important country. And like it or not, we are going to have to deal with it,” John Coatsworth, dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, said on the network program Good Morning America Weekend Edition. “We are not giving him a platform. He has plenty of platforms.”

Nevertheless, the Ivy League forum has drawn outrage from many people. Members of the New York State Assembly and the New York City Council were among elected officials who demonstrated outside Columbia’s campus on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

The conservative author David Horowitz called the university’s move a “disgrace” in comments to The Washington Times. Mr. Horowitz, a Columbia alumnus who leads a national campaign against what he sees as leftist bias in academe, said Columbia’s invitation to Mr. Ahmadinejad was an example of the political climate at America’s universities today.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a contender for the Democratic presidential nod, took a less critical stance on CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer. Asked if Columbia’s invitation was “a good idea,” she at first demurred, saying that it was a decision for the university to make. When pressed on the issue, Mrs. Clinton replied: “Well, if I were a president of a university, I would not have invited him. He’s a Holocaust denier. He’s a supporter of terrorism. But I also respect the right in our country to make different decisions.”

Lee C. Bollinger, who is president of Columbia, promised in a written statement last week to use the forum to challenge the Iranian president on a number of issues, including his denial of the Holocaust, his calls for the destruction of Israel, and his “reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops.”

The American Association of University Professors has not taken a stance on the debate over Columbia’s invitation, but it has urged university presidents not to bow to public pressure to cancel invitations to controversial speakers. —Charles Huckabee