Ed: IvyGate dispatched Columbia undergrad and Spectator columnist J.D. Porter to weigh in on the hype surrounding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the school. The Iranian Prez's event began at 1:30, and we'll have a recap coming later this afternoon. Someone instigate some mob violence out there! The media world is waiting. Just no one get hurt. OK, I'll shutup... here's J.D., with his own photos, from around noon:

Ahmadinejad fever took its time heating up today, but it looks like it's finally starting to spread, much like the deadlier literal fevers. Although event organizers scheduled the madness to begin at 11:00, the crowd only really began to swell around noon. Low Plaza, the main site of the student protests, went from almost empty to packed in about twenty minutes. The numbers don't look anywhere near the estimated 10,000 protesters, but the main action is supposed to get under way closer to one, with some protesters supposedly busing in.

More words and pictures, after the jump.

I would estimate that throughout the morning we had about one photographer/cameraman for every four or five students. With little else to shoot, a lot of the media people were zooming in on posters. A small but densely-packed crowd has formed outside our main gates, and security is only allowing people with Columbia IDs to enter, which feels cool for us. As a result, most of the real crazies are outside. I've seen a few shouting matches break out, but all in all the students are pretty organized.

Columbia has set up several sites where students can watch live feeds of the speech. The main one is on our South Lawn, and at one point someone was playing Matisyahu through the sound system, presumably to fight off Ahmadinejad with magical Jew powers. I also heard at least one person playing bagpipes somewhere on Broadway, but I couldn't find him. Reports indicate that he was wearing a kilt and holding a banner reading "Family Tradition and Property."

In general, students seem to be pro-invitation, anti-Ahmadinejad. As far as I know, no one has taken a poll, but that stance shows up pretty consistently in everyone's coverage, and in my own conversations with fellow Columbians. Unfortunately, it's a little subtle for the folks from Fox News and the New York Post, who seem largely frustrated that students are not wearing lapel-pin flags demonstrating their opinions. This has only reconfirmed the tired stereotype that Ivy Leaguers are good at thinking about things.

A lot of students are pretty upset about the way the University handled the invitation. There are some indications that they only told select students about the event, and by the time most found out, it was too late to get tickets. In any case, it was sold-out within about 90 minutes, and only 600 students got in. Apparently only 80% of the passes went to students; I'm not sure who else pays tuition here, but they got a fifth of the seats. Press passes were also hard to come by -- the Spectator only got one, and it was rescinded when the school found out that an editor already had one.

The hype, of course, has been ridiculous. Spectator broke the story, and has pretty comprehensive coverage, including a pretty good blog named "Ahmadineblog." The Bwog, meanwhile, found an advantage over Spec by continuing to have a working website over the past week, with the usual smirking coverage.

Probably the most fun reporting has come from Fox News. The newly Murdoch-owned "Journal Editorial Report" took on the story for a "Hits and Misses" segment. After no debate, the hosts, various men who own suits, characterized the invitation as a "Miss." O'Reilly added to the fun by designating Bollinger a Pinhead in his own "Patriots and Pinheads" segment. He also interviewed two students, one a Navy vet business student who has Ahmadinejad-funded shrapnel in his back, and the other a sophomore.

On nearly every Fox program, including the news pieces, someone found it strange that we like terrorists, but we don't let the ROTC on campus. To even things out, we've agreed to continue letting ROTC people on campus like we always have, and to ban Ahmadinejad from recruiting us to die in Iraq.

The New York Post has also covered this thing pretty heavily. Headlines include "NYERS IN RAGE OVER 'TEHRAN'TING LUNATIC" and "JUST SHOVE YOUR WREATH," which featured the sub-head "CITY TO IRAN PREZ: STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM GROUND ZERO." Note: this is not an actual quote from the city.

The Drudge Report also covered the event by linking to Spectator and crashing its website. Those who got through were not habitual Spec readers, and their comments offer a rare glimpse into the mindset of crazy furious idiots. To conclude, I offer you the five choicest lines from those comments:

5. Don't listen to this person, this is a relative of Dollinger!

4. Columbia just crapped on the graves of every american's grave who lost their lives due to satanic islamic terror.

3. Function bud, function!

2. Maybe this little radioactive punk jihadist will bring a nice gift to Columbia U! Ka Boom!

1. It appears that there is a "STINKWEED" in the good old "IVY League" garden!

--J.D. PORTER

[Ed.: More photos to come once we make them all not like two megabytes]

UPDATED: And here they are: