The introduction was not exactly warm.

Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University, welcomed the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this afternoon by saying that he “exhibited all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.” Mr. Bollinger went on to say that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust makes him either “brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.” Mr. Bollinger also recounted some of the lowlights of Iran’s dismal human-rights record, including its execution of minors.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, who was on stage during Mr. Bollinger’s remarks, responded by saying that the introduction was “an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience.” In his remarks, he also complained that it was “unfriendly treatment.”

You can watch the whole exchange between the presidents here. —Thomas Bartlett