Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York today sharply criticized the Columbia University students whose protest against an invited speaker on Wednesday night sparked a brawl, and the mayor said Columbia’s president needed to do more to get a handle on his campus, the Associated Press reported.

Wednesday’s fracas broke out at a speech by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, a group that opposes illegal immigrants through vigilante-like action on the nation’s borders. As a result of the brawl, Mr. Gilchrist, who had been invited by the College Republicans, was prevented from speaking (The Chronicle, October 5).

“I think it’s an outrage that somebody that was invited didn’t get a chance to speak,” Mayor Bloomberg said, according to the AP.

“Universities are supposed to be where you can express your views no matter how distasteful they may be to somebody,” he continued. “You either believe in free speech or you don’t.”

The mayor said the university’s president, Lee C. Bollinger, needed to get involved. “Bollinger’s just got to get his hands around this,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

In a written statement issued this afternoon, Mr. Bollinger called the brawl “one of the most serious breaches of academic faith that can occur in a university.” He promised an investigation of the incident, and said Columbia was reviewing how security at the event had been managed.