The Yale Daily News reported that hours after Ahmadinejad spoke at the United Nations accusing the United States of secretly perpetrating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, prompting American and European delegates to walk out, Ahmadinejad sat down for an hour-long chat with 13 Yale students. The special visit was arranged by Hillary Mann Leverett for her graduate seminar “U.S.-Iranian Diplomacy.”
At the hotel where the Iranian delegation was staying, students questioned and talked with Ahmadinejad, his senior policy advisor and his chief advisor for international affairs. Leverett, a senior fellow at Yale’s newly created Jackson Institute, is a proponent of engaging with Iran rather than imposing sanctions, and she said she tries to convey her overall approach to U.S.-Iranian relations to students in her seminar. The Yale Daily News observed, "She has drawn much attention — and criticism — for her views, which do not align with the conventional thinking in Washington."
The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence had listed Yale as one of 60 subversive organizations in January 2010 but Leverett said being blacklisted did not pose a problem when arranging the meeting with Yale students. She said Yale’s ties to various human rights organizations that criticize the regime likely landed the University on the list, which she said was largely meant to make a statement that Iran does not approve of programs that challenge the government in Tehran. Leverett said she arranged the meeting by contacting someone in the Iranian delegation, as students in her seminar had asked whether they could meet with Ahmadinejad while he was in New York.
"Leverett said she thinks students took away from the meeting in New York that Ahmadinejad is 'not a crazy, irrational leader,' and whether students agree with him or not, he has a strategy for Iran. She added that she also hopes students understand “that it will take a lot more from the U.S. if we want to have a real policy of engagement.' ”
Source: Greenberg, Sam (September 27, 2010). Relating to Iran, in seminar and in person. Yale Daily News.
At the hotel where the Iranian delegation was staying, students questioned and talked with Ahmadinejad, his senior policy advisor and his chief advisor for international affairs. Leverett, a senior fellow at Yale’s newly created Jackson Institute, is a proponent of engaging with Iran rather than imposing sanctions, and she said she tries to convey her overall approach to U.S.-Iranian relations to students in her seminar. The Yale Daily News observed, "She has drawn much attention — and criticism — for her views, which do not align with the conventional thinking in Washington."
The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence had listed Yale as one of 60 subversive organizations in January 2010 but Leverett said being blacklisted did not pose a problem when arranging the meeting with Yale students. She said Yale’s ties to various human rights organizations that criticize the regime likely landed the University on the list, which she said was largely meant to make a statement that Iran does not approve of programs that challenge the government in Tehran. Leverett said she arranged the meeting by contacting someone in the Iranian delegation, as students in her seminar had asked whether they could meet with Ahmadinejad while he was in New York.
"Leverett said she thinks students took away from the meeting in New York that Ahmadinejad is 'not a crazy, irrational leader,' and whether students agree with him or not, he has a strategy for Iran. She added that she also hopes students understand “that it will take a lot more from the U.S. if we want to have a real policy of engagement.' ”
Source: Greenberg, Sam (September 27, 2010). Relating to Iran, in seminar and in person. Yale Daily News.
