NYC set to shield Iran prez, Columbia talk still on, Columbia University plans to go forward with a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the city is mobilizing security to protect him.,Ahmadinejad, scheduled to arrive Sunday to address the United Nation, will speak at a Columbia on Monday. His request to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site was denied.

Even though they plan to rally against him, some Columbia students said they support his appearance.

“He’s a leader of a large nation and what he says is important, even if it’s wrong,” said Dmitry Zakharov, 25, a graduate student.

Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust “a myth” and called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” The White House says Iran sponsors terrorism.

Rallies are planned outside Columbia and at the United Nations. The city police and the Secret Service are charged with protecting Ahmadinejad along with dozens of heads of state at the assembly.

Leaders voiced mixed opinions.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he wouldn’t go listen to him.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said, “Anyone who supports terror, pledges to destroy a sovereign nation, punishes by death anyone who ‘insults’ religion . . . denies the Holocaust and thumbs his nose at the international community, has no legitimate role to play at a university.”

The governor took a different approach. “His comments defy logic, history and reason,” Gov. Eliot Spitzer said. “He is someone whose views we scorn. But that said, he is here in the state and will be protected by the NYPD and state police and everyone else.”