Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) sent a letter to interim University President Katrina Armstrong on Friday calling on Columbia to rescind its invitation to Tô Lâm, the president of Vietnam and the Communist Party of Vietnam’s general secretary, who is scheduled to speak on Monday as part of the University’s annual World Leaders Forum.

The letter describes Lâm as “chiefly responsible for the ongoing repression of the Vietnamese people,” citing the detention of more than 170 prisoners of conscience. The prisoners—who face lengthy sentences, solitary confinement, unfair trials, and arbitrary arrests for opposing the state’s Communist Party—are unable to seek treatment for health conditions, subject to forced labor, and banned from religious practice, according to the letter.

“Sixteen-point-seven percent [of my] constituents are Vietnamese,” Steel said in an interview with Spectator. “And you know what? I’ve been working with them for the last 30 years in California ... and this is [a] very important issue. Human rights violations [are] one of the most important issues because these people came to this country for freedom.”

The President of Vietnam does not have a publicly available website or direct media contact.

The Communist Party of Vietnam could not be reached for comment because the party’s posted email address “couldn’t be found, or is unable to receive mail,” according to the Mail Delivery Subsystem.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.

“Columbia World Leaders Forum invites influential figures from across the globe to engage with our University community, in support of the institution’s larger academic mission to teach, create, and advance knowledge,” University spokesperson Samantha Slater wrote in a statement to Spectator. “That mission is grounded in a fundamental commitment to free expression, open inquiry, and vigorous debate. An invitation to speak at an event is neither a validation nor an endorsement of any individual speaker’s views. The program includes ample time for students to question the speakers, challenge their records, and address them with other views.”

Steel told Spectator on Sunday that she had not received any communication from Columbia regarding her letter. A University official wrote in a statement to Spectator that the University “intends” to reply to Steel.

“I’m very much disappointed because [Armstrong] is interim president, and I think this is a great chance to start her tenure by taking [a] strong stand for human rights and canceling this disgraceful event,” Steel said.

“How can you talk about free speech when he has, Mr. Lâm has, limited free speech in Vietnam?” Steel added.

John Sifton, the Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, wrote in a statement to Spectator that “Surreal manifestations of autocracy seem to surround To Lam.”

“The Columbia community should question To Lam’s record, and ask him why hundreds of dissidents remain behind bars,” Sifton wrote.

Sifton wrote that the Vietnamese government released Hoàng Thị Minh Hông, a member of Columbia’s inaugural cohort of Obama Scholars, on Saturday morning. In May 2023, she was detained on tax evasion charges, which Vietnamese law enforcement officials have similarly levied against several other prominent activists since 2021.

University spokesperson Ben Chang wrote in a June 2023 press release that Columbia was “alarmed” and that her “presence enriched the program and enhanced our understanding of how to address issues of climate change and environmental protection and resilience.”

“We echo the call by the U.S. Department of State for Vietnam to respect and protect her freedoms of expression and association,” Chang wrote.

Past World Leaders Forum events have also generated public controversy, including a September 2007 appearance by former president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Former University President Lee Bollinger, a leading First Amendment scholar, introduced Ahmadinejad by levying a series of “sharp challenges” to his denial of the Holocaust and call for the destruction of the State of Israel. Bollinger also criticized Ahmadinejad for the Iranian government’s support for international terrorism, its nuclear program ambitions, and the suppression of women’s rights, independent journalism, and scholarship.

“Columbia cannot claim to foster a campus environment of free speech and expression while hosting one of the most prominent leaders of authoritarianism,” Steel’s letter reads. “Condoning this level of repression will only embolden further persecution of the Vietnamese people.”