After his victory in the Straw poll, Hunter received media attention for his response to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's invitation to speak to students at Columbia University. He criticized the school for its decision, stating that "if the left-wing leaders of academia will not support our troops, they, in the very least, should not support our adversaries..." He then called for a revocation of federal funding to the University. These statements resulted in criticism from liberals such as Glenn Greenwald, who described Hunter's proposal as "dangerous", "improper" and "unconstitutional".
