Columbia Dean: We'd Welcome Hitler

A Columbia University dean said the school would let Adolf Hitler to speak on campus.

"If he were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him," John Coatsworth, dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, told Fox News.

Columbia has drawn intense criticism for agreeing to let Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad give a lecture on campus.

Columbia has a history of providing a forum to provocative speakers. It once welcomed Hitler's ambassador to the campus.

Then-President Nicholas Murray Butler invited Nazi Germany's U.S. ambassador, Hans Luther, to speak at Columbia in December 1933, triggering a student revolt. Butler then held a cocktail reception for Luther.