Varsity head takes awkward cake
2007-12-12 21:03
New York - Columbia University President Lee Bollinger has beaten Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in Time magazine's Top 10 Awkward Moments List.
The president of the Ivy League campus won the dubious distinction for slamming Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after inviting him to speak on campus.
Bollinger was initially criticised for hosting Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel's annihilation and questioned the existence of the Holocaust. But Bollinger took even more criticism for introducing the dictator as "a petty and cruel dictator".
The list, which will appear in the Decmeber 24 issue of the magazine, names Bollinger No. 1 under the heading "Adding Insult to Introduction".
A spokesperson for Columbia declined to comment on Wednesday.
Hilton was No. 2 on the list for her outburst after a judge ordered her back to jail from home confinement; Spears was No. 6 for her widely panned performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
- AP