Intentional irony?

From The Christian Science Monitor's News briefs

A Hamilton College panel on the "Limits of Dissent" was cancelled after multiple death threats were reported against both officials of the upstate New York school and controversial guest speaker Ward Churchill. An essay by Churchill, in which the University of Colorado professor compared victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center bombing to "little Eichmanns," a reference to the infamous Nazi war criminal, ignited strong resistance to Churchill's scheduled visit.

Was Hamilton College trying to be intentionally ironic? Or perhaps Ward Churchill's opponents were trying to live down to the criticism of them?

There's a not-entirely-unfair sentiment that universities are no longer the venue for vibrant debate and free exchange of ideas they've traditionally liked to promote themselves as. Incidents such as this do little to dispel that train of thought.