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News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education

Oct. 14

In Defense of Ayers

U. of Illinois at Chicago

William Ayers

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William Ayers has been trashed by conservative pundits and labeled “an unrepentant domestic terrorist” by Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, but the University of Illinois at Chicago professor has garnered the support of a growing number of peers who admire his scholarship and see the attacks on him as an affront to academic freedom.

Ayers, who helped found a Vietnam-era protest group that was blamed for bombing government buildings, has been a faculty member at Illinois-Chicago since 1987. In a statement signed by faculty members across the country, professors have spoken out against “the demonization” of Ayers, whose alleged ties to the Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama have made headlines.

“It’s true that Professor Ayers participated passionately in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, as did hundreds of thousands of Americans,” reads the statement, which was posted on www.supportbillayers.org. “His participation in political activity 40 years ago is history; what is most relevant now is his continued engagement in progressive causes, and his exemplary contribution — including publishing 16 books — to the field of education.”

The letter is described on the Web site as an outlet for educators looking for a forum to express solidarity with Ayers, noting that its contents could be used in advertisements or press releases in the future.

Bill Schubert, a professor of education at Illinois-Chicago, said he signed the letter to show support for his longtime colleague and friend.

“I certainly support him in the sense that I think he’s an outstanding faculty member and a good colleague,” Schubert said. “I’m very disheartened by any discrediting kind of material in the news.”

The letter, which had been signed by more than 3,000 educators as of Monday, does not specifically mention the most severe allegations from Ayers’ past. The Weather Underground, which Ayers helped to found, planned a series of bombings — mostly aimed at property damage — that took aim, among other sites, at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. While deaths were attributed to the group, Ayers was never accused of killing anyone. Federal riot and bombing conspiracy charges were brought against Ayers, but the charges were dropped in 1974 because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Faculty members interviewed for this article stressed that Ayers has emerged as a prominent scholar in the field of education, and they say Ayers’s past is viewed by his colleagues as irrelevant to his current work. Active in faculty governance as well as research, Ayers was recently elected to represent his department on the Illinois-Chicago Faculty Senate for the next three years. He is described by many as a personable professor, known to invite his classes over for dinner at his home.

It’s unclear who began the Web site supporting Ayers. Faculty said they received links to the letter in widely circulated e-mails as early as a month ago, but those who spoke to Inside Higher Ed said they were unsure of where it started. A domain registry search gave no mention of the site’s originator.

The statement lumps the attacks against Ayers into a broader history of “assaults designed to intimidate free thinking and stifle critical dialogue” in all levels of education. The letter specifically cites events at the University of Colorado at Boulder as part of the problematic pattern.

Ward Churchill, a former professor at Colorado whose writings on 9/11 caused enormous controversy, was fired in 2007 amid charges of academic misconduct. Churchill’s case has been cited by many as an abridgement of academic freedom, although even some of his early supporters were troubled by the allegations of plagiarism and other misconduct that surfaced after his writings came under scrutiny.

In an interview Monday, Churchill said he sees parallels with his own case and the way Ayers has been depicted in the news media. Churchill, a fellow Vietnam protester who says he met Ayers “back in the day,” is among those who signed the letter supporting Ayers. Ayers, who has written about his days in the Weather Underground in a memoir and published papers, is being wrongfully persecuted for his political positions, Churchill said.

“This whole thing about checking whether people are crossing lines in an academic context is absolute insanity,” Churchill said. “You’re allowed to profess if you’re a professor.”

While Ayers is a continual proponent of “social justice,” he has not used his classroom as a pulpit from which to discuss his days as a ‘60s radical, according to two students who took classes under him.

“It really was less about him, and that’s another refreshing thing,” said Sofia Kokkino, who took a course in graduate school with Ayers. “He’s not a megalomaniac who wanted to talk about himself.”

Kokkino, who says Ayers invited her class to his house and cooked pasta for them, first met Ayers when she was a high school student doing community service in the juvenile justice system. Ayers was doing research for what would become his book, A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court.

“I think I became more aware of [his Weather Underground days] when I was getting my master’s,” said Kokkino, who now teaches at a Chicago elementary school. “It didn’t affect me at all. I knew him as part of Chicago and part of the community.”

Asif Wilson, who took a multicultural education course Ayers taught in 2006, said Ayers’s past “wasn’t brought up one bit in the course.”

“I feel like Bill really stressed the importance of not judging a book by its cover, and to treat every child we teach as equal, and to really strive for social justice amongst students,” said Wilson, who now teaches fifth and sixth graders in Chicago.

The support among professors for Ayers is sure only to fuel conservative criticism of academe as a bastion of liberalism.

Margaret LeCompte, an education professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said she anticipates continued criticism of academe to come from people like David Horowitz. Horowitz is a conservative activist whose book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, derides liberal faculty.

“I’m sure that all 3,000 of those [who signed the Ayers letter] could be put on the hit list as more ‘dangerous professors,’ and David Horowitz could have a lot of fun with that,” LeCompte said. “But the people who want to think there’s a conspiracy to put more academics in higher education are going to continue to believe that.”

In addition to Churchill, the letter is signed by at least one other target of conservative criticism, Rashid Khalidi. Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of Arab studies at Columbia University, has drawn critics for his support of Palestinian causes and criticism of Israel. The professor, whose ties to Obama have been a source of scrutiny, declined an interview request, and said in an e-mail that he is declining all such requests until after the election.

It is perhaps not surprising that Ayers and Khalidi find supporters in academe, because they “fit well within the academic mainstream,” according to Robert KC Johnson, a history professor at Brooklyn College who has frequently criticized academe for a lack of political diversity.

“I agree with [Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah] Palin that there’s a scandal here – but it’s not that Obama, among his hundreds of other associations with academic figures, was acquainted with, and received support from, Ayers and Khalidi,” Johnson wrote on the History News Network.

“The scandal is the evolution of a groupthink academic environment has allowed figures such as Ayers and Khalidi to flourish.”

Ayers, who said he was out of the country last week and did not respond to an interview request, is currently on sabbatical from Illinois-Chicago. Faculty in his department say he’s received multiple threats via e-mail, and unwanted visitors have approached his office as news of his past has seeped into a heated presidential campaign. But Eleni Katsarou, a clinical associate professor of curriculum and instruction at UIC, said she expects Ayers to return to the university and to continue thriving as a teacher and scholar.

“He’ll come back in January,” she said, “[and] I just can’t imagine he would have any problems centering and grounding himself.”

— Jack Stripling

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Comments

Professing?

“You’re allowed to profess if you’re a professor.”

If — because taxpayers the university system — one has a wide base of knowledge, not a very narrow and mono-sided one. If there is an authentic diversity of ideas, not 25-2 to one political party (and if there is a gross political, some empirically-based explanation).

And anyone wishing to “profess” is free to go down to the park, alight to a soap-box, and profess as long as they want. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that guarantees anyone the right to live off the public dime to profess. As for “diversity” — there is plenty on the Web, most of it for free.

BTW: does that “professing” include those whose fathers are not friends of the Daley family?

L.L., at 6:45 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Time to find the Rogue Elephants

What concerns me is that the education committee that Obama served on with Ayers was created by a close Republican associate of Ronald Reagan and populated by several prominent Republican. These dangerous Republicans launched their careers in Ayer’s living room. Who were these dangerous 5th column of radical Republicans who had such poor judgement to serve with one who bombed our Pentagon? I am waiting for Sarah Palin to out these dangerous radical terrorist Republicans, who unlike Obama have not demounced the violent past of Professor Ayers! How can I trust any Republican candidate who has not told the truth about their Ayer’s terrorist connection? In all seriousness, the hypocrisy and witch hunting stinks. Professor Ayers has built an honorable life from his radical past. Leave him in peace. The spotlight belongs on a certain demagogue who was convicted of abusing her office. And maybe had her home built for her by builders she handed major contracts: for free.

Diogenes, at 6:45 am EDT on October 14, 2008

You must be joking....

A group — founded on his ideals — set off bombs and killed people. If he was a white supremacist or anti-abortion zealot who did exactly that, you’d all be screaming for his head on a platter. If you think otherwise, you are being disingenuous. I am sure the bombings he inspired (if not participated in) were “assaults designed to intimidate” as well. Which is worse, talking about what somebody actually did or blowing people up? Churchill was a plagiarist who postures. Ayers was a doer. He set in motion a group that killed people.

Frank, at 7:00 am EDT on October 14, 2008

AYERS

If the prosecutors hadn’t screwed up, he’d still be in prison, where he belongs.

Larry Gillis, at 7:35 am EDT on October 14, 2008

The Ayers issue

This is a strange article because it frames criticism of Bill Ayers as an attack on academic freedom. Ayers is a very public intellectual and the public has a right to criticize him. The characterization of Bill Ayers as an unrepentant domestic terrorist is criticism of Ayers. It is protected speech. It is also undoubtedly true.

This article gives the impression that the Weathermen were simply overzealous critics of the war who were only hurting property and were careful to avoid hurting people. That is nonsense.

The details of their activities are difficult to pin down because setting off bombs is illegal and though they sent out communiques claiming credit for at least a dozen bombings, the details naming names were never included.

Before they went underground, they organized the “Days of Rage” in which about three hundred people gathered in Chicago and went running through the streets smashing windows and attacking police. When states attorney Richard Elrod was hurt by one of the demonstrators it was described in the newsletter sent out to people on the sds mailing list as “Pig Elrod was paralyzed, hopefully for life".

The group went underground two months later and two violent incidents occurred in which the Weather underground was strongly suspected. One was the bombing of a San Francisco police station in which one policeman was killed. The second was the firebombing of the house of the judge in the Panther 21 trial, an action that seemed aimed at killing not only the judge but his entire family.

In March of 1970, three months after going underground, three members of the weathermen blew themselves up in a townhouse explosion caused by the premature explosion of anti-personnel bombss that were being prepared for a dance for soldiers at Fort Dix.

After the townhouse explosion, they did move away from actions aimed at killing and injuring people. But in reality there is no way that setting off explosions in public buildings does not run a high risk of causing injury and death. Furthermore, it is clearly aimed at causing fear and intimidating the general population, something that is one of the major goal of all political terrorists. And it must be remembered, it was not until their own members had gotten killed that they developed a conscience about taking the life of innocents.

The Weathermen viewed America as hopelessly flawed by white racism and believed that a war was going on against America and the only way to help was to join that fight to help destroy it. They viewed those who didn’t join them as wedded to their “white skin privilege” and not sufficiently committed to the revolutionary struggle. Because monogamous relationships such as marriage were seen as barriers to total commitment, couples were pressured into having sex with other partners as part of the process of preparing for war.

The Weathermen saw themselves as following in the footsteps of John Brown’s anti-slavery crusade. One of their chants was “John Brown live like him, dare to struggle, dare to win". While they were smashing store windows and “fighting the pigs” in downtown Chicago, they saw themselves as attacking Harper’s Ferry and freeing the slaves.

It was madness and it only hindered the efforts of others to end the Vietnam War. They didn’t want to end the war, they wanted to bring the war home.

Bill Ayers has never been held accountable for his actions. By his own words he was “guilty as hell, free as a bird". Though the Weathermen acknowledged some of their excesses, there is no evidence that they have changed their fundamental view of American society.

There is no reason for a petition defending Bill Ayers’ academic freedom. Nobody is trying to take his job away. Nobody is denying him the right to express his views. The only explanation for this petition is that it is a defense of Ayers’ views and an attempt to demonize his critics.

Shameful!

Jonathan Cohen, Professor of mathematics at DePaul University, at 8:00 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Bill Ayers and Ward Churchill...peas in a pod?

Ayers must be ecstatic now that he has the support of Ward Chruchill. With friends like that...

I can only comment on what is known. Ayers was not convicted, but that does not exonerate him for the actions he, at least, encouraged in his youth. People were killed by the Weathermen. Sure, many people fought against the Vietnam War, myself included. But never did I ever consider bombing the very people who were dying for me 3,000 miles away.

Support Ayers? Not me. No siree!

feudi pandola, at 8:25 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Dr. Cohen — stop bringing up facts! You may make someone have an unfortunate realization that their hero was/is on the wrong side of morality. The ’sixties’ is not an excuse.

Most of the signers of this petition are ‘wannabe-Ayers’ types who did not have the sociopathic nature to actually do what he did, but they want that anti-establishment cred he has to rub off on them. They have to realize that they are now ‘the man’ they are so desperate to overthrow.

Ayers was a child of privilege who used his connections to avoid prosecution (Again — how would you all react if a republican used his/her connections to avoid something..hmmmmm).

I guess there really is a profound double standard as long as your politics are progressive. If you support so-called ’social justice’ I guess you can get away with murder...At least they believe in one kind of justice.

Frank, at 8:35 am EDT on October 14, 2008

I would have more sympathy for Ayers if he were repentent for youthful excesses, but his statement that he didn’t do enough, published on 9/11 (coincidentally), was made as an adult. Further, Ayers has not been thrust into politics but has inserted himself by supporting Obama as an early fundraiser. He has that right, but voters also have the right to know who Obama has been associated with in his Chicago political life. I see this editorial and the petition as political acts designed to help Obama by whitewashing Ayers. Ayers actions were too grave to forget and his radicalism persists. And it is obvious that Obama was willing to set this aside in exchange for political help, just as Ayers colleagues appear to be. Ayers is not being persecuted. He is quite rightly judged for his recently expressed views about his own past actions.

Perry, at 9:25 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Defending the past...

The sad part is that there is a need to defend his past. I think we have all done things in our past that we would rather not dwell on. The point is that Obama should have handled the accusations differently and provided more of a defense on Ayers part. He is the one that made it look bad and allowed it to become an attack statement by the opposing party. The media does not help the situation by fueling the fire. Ayers needs to go on national television and let people know who he is now and what he has done to make this a better world to live in.

Jackie, at 9:25 am EDT on October 14, 2008

This must be a right-wing plot

The Obama campaign is surely cringing over this stupid petition that, as other posters have noted, has nothing to do with the issue. Obama’s association with Ayers is problematic but the real issue is the way McCain/Palin are using it to instill fear and it’s working. The Wisconsin rally even had McCain cringing. Academe should focus on the politics of fear and otherness rather than this ill-advised, pointless and even damaging defense of Ayers.

mythbuster, at 9:50 am EDT on October 14, 2008

If no real threat to Ayers’ ability to teach and write as a faculty member is being posed, I don’t see why criticism of his past conduct should be seen as an attack on academic freedom. Indeed, his activities in the Weathermen were most assuredly not related to his later work as a scholar/teacher, so it was NOT protected academic freedom activity. Whether you think he should be jailed or hailed as a hero, academic freedom is not the issue. It would be an issue if there was a real threat of him losing his job due to these political pressures. I’ve seen none of that.

I wish those signing up to protect this ex-terrorist of the crazy left would instead devote themselves to protecting the truly under attack academic freedom of adjuncts in the USA. Ayers can afford to have students over to his nice home because he’s a well to do prof, son of rich parents, whose job also pays him a nice salary. Those qualities do not show him to be an especially good or important professor. The less attention paid to him the better. Don’t flock to defend someone who is not under serious attack. His conduct is fairly open to criticism, but that is not an attack. Stripping him of tenure, or planting a bomb in his garage would be an attack.

Mark, at 10:16 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Just proves how far left most of the academae in the US is. Yes, there were protests for Civil Rights and against Vietnam in the 60’s. But most were accomplished without violence. To this day, Ayers defends his actions and spits on the country that allows his freedom to continue his hatred of America. If it is so terrible here Mr. Ayers, go move to Canada or Europe!

JoeRo, at 10:16 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Confusion reigns?

Diogenes seems to think this is all about the Republican party. Will someone enlighten him/her?

The issue here is whether Ayers deserves support, and the answer is, simply, no.

Despite the author’s best efforts at waffling, it is quite clear that Ayers participated enthusiastically in activities that killed people, either through planning or through execution. Without a goofed-up prosecution, he’d be in jail where he belongs.

The inconsistency and stupidity in modern academics is staggering. Down is up, up is down. Argument by labelling passes for logic.Ayers is progressive, Ward Churchill professes, woop-de-doo.

The facts have already been rendered with impeccable clarity by Jonathan Cohen, but I have a thought for you.

This week, Bill Maher’s film “Religulous” opens at theaters. The add for the film shows chimps dressed in religious gear. Maher’s made a living promoting weak comedy aimed at conservatives (one wonders how he’ll survive with Obama in office), so he’ll probably get rave reviews regardless of the quality of the effort. But seriously — imagine for a minute a conservative group made a film ridiculing Muslims! The academic establishment would be outraged! I know that, close to home, someone promoting a “Muhammad Cartoon Contest” was immediately fired by his university. Only a few intrepid souls spoke for HIS freedom of speech, but I suspect that what he did was far gentler than anything the Ward “Chief Big Heart” Churchill did.

“Progressives” have forsaken the slightest hint of consistency or rationality in their approach to these issues.

Stubbornly Rational, at 10:20 am EDT on October 14, 2008

In case anyone emerges from this article unaware of what Bill Ayers stands for, please read this article by John Murtagh in the City Journal:

http://www.city-journal.org/2008/eon0430jm.html

The shift in strategy from planning bombings to planning classroom agitation doesn’t change the fundamental repugnance of a man who still believes in the same principles.

Engineering Grad Student, at 10:25 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Trapped in a Time Warp

There’s a new show on TV called “Life on Mars” that centers around a modern New York cop who has somehow been transported back to 1973. It’s your basic fish out of water drama, emphasizing how much has changed over the past 35 years. The unmistakable lesson of “Life on Mars” is simple: 1973 was a VERY long time ago.

The days of Bill Ayers and the Weathermen PREDATE 1973.

I know that anger and bitterness over the lost war in Vietnam is all that motivates some right-wing culture warriors to get out of bed in the morning, but there has to be some sort of statute of limitations here. Bill Ayers didn’t kill anyone. He escaped punishment because the federal government violated the United States Constitution, an offense far more serious than anything Ayers, inept revolutionary that he was, actually accomplished.

People: you need to get over it. I made peace many years ago with the fact that Henry Kissinger will never wear leg shackles and beg for mercy at the bar of the International Court of Justice. You need to move on, too. Because, frankly, it’s getting embarrassing.

Take a few deep breaths. Hum a couple of bars of the “Ballad of the Green Berets". And then allow yourself to let go of all that forty year old rage. Embrace the new century and the first presidential nominee whose political worldview was not shaped by that divisive decade that you can’t seem to escape.

Unapologetically Tenured, at 10:25 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Not much clarity here

The article as well as the commentary continue to avoid the main issue. That is that serving on a board with Ayers is enough to question the veracity, loyalty, patriotism, and presidential potential of that person.

Despite Ayers background or is rehabilitation or lack thereof, the association of Obama and others with him still seem to be poorly defined.

Obama, the press, this article, and Ayers himself have done little to provide greater clarity. This has allowed the shameful fear mongering of Palin/ MacCain to continue far longer than it should have.

We may all be served better if we had an emotional presentation of the facts.

I can see clearly from my house, at 10:35 am EDT on October 14, 2008

LeCompte said[:] “But the people who want to think there’s a conspiracy to put more academics in higher education are going to continue to believe that.”

Yes, by Jove, I continue to believe that. I do.

drive-by snark, at 10:55 am EDT on October 14, 2008

For Feudi

You said, “Ayers was not convicted, but that does not exonerate him for the actions he, at least, encouraged in his youth.”

I have to respectfully disagree and not due to any agreement with Ayers or his views. Thankfully, though, we live in a country with a system of innocent until proven guilty. So, you are only partially correct...not being convicted does not exonerate him because not being convicted gives him nothing to be exonerated of.

Disagree, at 11:05 am EDT on October 14, 2008

eye on the ball

Might we recall that, just now, the main issue is Obama and the outcome of the presidential election. Focusing on things like his tie with Ayers is what the McCain camp has been trying to do — unsuccessfully, if anyone has been paying attention; most of our fellow citizens seem to have more momentous issues on their minds. Those whose primary concern is with Ayers might perhaps wait a little longer before moving him to the forefront of their minds and energies.

Judith Shapiro, at 11:55 am EDT on October 14, 2008

private registration won’t last long

http://news.cnet.com/Private-doma...-so-private/2100-1038_3-5833663.html

Anonymous, of course, at 11:55 am EDT on October 14, 2008

Ayers

In an interview in the New York Times on 9/11/2001, Professors Ayers made comments that indicated that he had no regrets about his activities in the 1960s and indeed still believed in radical political action. He quickly retreated from that position after the Towers fell. I am sure he has been more circumspect since, but I felt at the time that he was at best a fool, and see no reason to change that opinion because he is a good teacher.

John Mulqueen

John Mulqueen, at 12:35 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

This Has Nothing To Do With Academic Freedom

How ironic that defenders of Ayers would use a concept intended to encourage the free and open discussion of controversial topics and issues to silence Ayer’s critics. To label the factually correct discussions about Ayers self-acknowledged bombings -which were unquestionably acts of domestic terrorism—as attacks “by conservative pundits” is absurd. Even more troubling is the wrong-headed suggestion that these discussion in some way violate Ayers academic freedom. Such a suggestion is absurd. These political discussions, which are taking place in the public arena, are in no way a violation of anyone’s academic freedom.

I would also point out that no one is challenging Ayer’s brilliance as a scholar. People like Ayers usually are brilliant though sometimes, misguided (Bin Laden is a good example). Nonetheless, being a great scholar does not justify sticking one’s head in the sand and ignoring Ayers well-documented terrorist activities. Simply being dubbed a great scholar does not inoculate one from challenges and criticisms to espoused views. Moreover, academic freedom provides no such inoculation.

To sweep his unpatriotic, anti-American, terrorist activities under the carpet of academic freedom is a perfect example of what Van Alstyne describes as “Gresham’s Law"—bad usage/application. In this case, defending or overlooking domestic terrorism in the name of academic freedom. As Van Alstyne rightly points out, it is these kinds of bad usages that pose the greatest threat to academic freedom.

Actions have consequences, and we are all accountable for our actions. What is happening now is not an attack by conservative pundits, but rather, a reckoning; a call to accountability. No one is asking Ayers to change his political views; in America one is entitled to freedom of thought and expression (within the bounds of law). But, an acknowledgment by Ayers that his methods may have been, at the very least, inappropriate would be nice. This is the problem with far left liberals, they want to hold everybody but themselves accountable for their actions.

Oh well, I digress. The point here is that discussing Ayers terrorist activities in no way violates his academic freedom. Moreover, political discussions outside the university are not protected by academic freedom.

Robin West, at 12:50 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Friends and supporters of Bill Ayers

At last count, there were 3,247 signatories to the petition in support of Bill Ayers. He must feel proud to have such a long list of supporters, some obscure and some well-known.

His academic supporters include Mr. Jack Meoff of the University of West Kentucky; Wing Ding Weisenheimer of Barber College (#785); Sal Monella (#852) of the U of Texas; Aysheet Madraars (#1207) of U of Tennesee; and Cho Connarubber (#922), U of Central Kansas.

Ward Churchill is listed twice, at #393 and at #814. Maybe somebody plagiarized him.

It’s a little surprising to see that dead people have signed this petition, but maybe ACORN was in charge of collecting the signatures. The posthumous signatories include Aleister Crowley (#2748) and Alfred Jodl (#2637). Maybe there really is a Dr. Alfred Jodl at the U of Minnesota and this is merely a coincidence in names, but the best known Alfred Jodl was hanged at Nuremburg for his war crimes head of the Wehrmacht.

It is gratifying to see the support Ayers is getting from his fellow terrorists even after some of them have died on the job. That includes Mr. Donald DeFreeze (#1059), listed as chairman of a department of the S.L.A. For those who know no more history than one can expect contemporary colleges to teach, “S.L.A.” stands for “Symbionese Liberation Army", a group dedicated to educational and social reform through assassinating school superintendents, kidnapping heiresses, robbing banks and murdering policemen.

It’s more understandable if you don’t know who Paul Orgeron (#1064) was, unless you attended Houston schools in the 1950’s as I did. He is listed as coming from Poe Elementary. That was where he blew up a teacher, a janitor, several schoolchildren, his son and himself with dynamite concealed in a briefcase.

There is very little about this petition to take seriously, whether it’s the signatures of Mr. Meoff or Ward Churchill. Least of all should one take seriously the moral judgement of people who sign petitions in support of a terrorist who can’t see anything wrong with setting off bombs in public buildings. Their moral obtuseness is as great as his own, as their signatures testify.

Jack Olson, at 1:10 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Ayers Gets What He Deserves

It is wonderfully amusing to read the hand-wringing and finger-pointing from the petition-waving defenders of William Ayers who pontificate about his right to free speech and academic freedom.

Those same people fall notoriously silent, sullen and absent when conservatives like Ward Connerly, David Horowitz or Ann Coulter make a campus appearance, to be greeted by cackling, interruptions, harassment and threats from angry audiences. Threats to them are of no concern to Ayers and his latter day supporters.

Ayers deserves all the opprobrium and criticism now being heaped on him and from what I can tell he, like the proverbial pig, seems rather to enjoy the mud bath.

Chuck, at 3:10 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Weathermen

“The days of Bill Ayers and the Weathermen PREDATE 1973″

Wrong.

The Weathermen lasted till 1978 in its original forms. Ayers and Dohrn only surrendered in 1980. They have never recanted, and are to this day proud of their work. That means a lot.

This whole “they tried to minimize casualties” thing is bullshit too. Just because their big attacks mostly failed (thanks to a brave FBI mole), they had fully planned to kill many at Fort Dix during a soldier’s dance.

seguin, Graduate at Texas A&M, at 3:35 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Moral bankruptcy on the Left

Unapologetically Tenured, in his or her inimitable fashion, counseled those who will not sign the ridiculous “Ayers Petition", to “get over it"...to “whistle a few bars of the Ballad of the Green Berets".UT revels in condescension towards all those poor misguided neocons who find comfort in their Bible and guns. Must be nice to live in the cartoon world of tenured professors.

Disagree stated that “not being convicted does not exonerate him (Ayers) because not being convicted gives him nothing to be exonerated of.” Besides the dangling participle, this statement does not acknowledge the full meaning of the word.The definition of exoneration is: “to clear, as of an accusation; free from guilt or blame; exculpate.” OJ Simpson was not convicted either, but he is certainly not exonerated in the court of public opinion.

I’ll stand by my statement. What I won’t do is sign a petition full of hot air.

feudi pandola, at 3:35 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Damned If He Wasn’t Right ...

Just after lunch today, one of my colleagues called to ask if I’d read this article and the subsequent comments. I told him my Internet service is on the fritz and I haven’t been on-line today. I expressed annoyance that I was probably missing a lively debate.

To my surprise he said, “No big deal. Don’t you keep a folder of ‘memorable’ IHE articles and essays?”

I admitted I did.

He said, “Well just look at the responses to one of ...

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/10/quote

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/16/conservative

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/10/08/politics

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/07/25/churchill

and you’ll see that you’ve already read variations of these comments in InsideHigherEd a dozen or so times ... and by precisely the same respondents.”

I’m on-line now, and I’ve read the article and the comments. Damned if he wasn’t right.

Frizbane Manley, at 3:35 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Political morass over Ayers

If any of us are honest, what we did as 20 year olds has a limited effect on who we are now. Ayres claims he wanted to blow up buildings, not people. It seems that was the basis of his defense and why he was never convicted of anything. If he had killed someone, they can still arrest him because there is no statute of limitations on murder. The fact they are not doing anything suggests there is no evidence to follow-up on. Let’s simply assume he is what he appears to be, a liberal professor with views on social justice and reform in education. No big deal. On the other hand, we know Todd Palin was registered in the Alaskan Independence Party, which advocates secession from the U.S., and many through violence if necessary. In 2007, Sarah Palin spoke at their convention “thanking them” for their support for her election as Governor. She really is “palling around” with those who are “un-American.” Let’s stop all this nonsense about terrorists, secessionists, etc. and get on with electing someone best suited to be president of the U.S.

Fred flener, Retired, at 4:00 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Issues & “forgetting”

” .. Might we recall that, just now, the main issue is Obama ..”

Yes, madam. And Mr. Obama and his Chicago friends keep making headlines. To wit: Rev. “America” Wright, Tony Rezko (currently singing to U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald), Father Pflager, ACORN (current being investigated in several states), and so on.

As for forgetting the past — well, Mr. Obama gave a stirring example during his class trip to Europe this summer. When he “forgot” to mention the driving force behind the fall of the Berlin Wall — the 40th President of the USA. But fame is fleeting, and soon Mr. Obama will also join the forgotten.

L.L., at 4:40 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

The Sound, The Fury, The Hot Air

Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist, in my opinion, and he does not appear to have softened his rhetoric. Of course, I am glad he is no longer acting on that rhetoric; this is the kind of advance we like to see in the developmental process. The comments made about him by any politician or other citizen are protected unless they violate slander/libel laws. In other words, this is absolutely not a matter of academic freedom until his university tries to fire him for being unpopular. Why it hired him and why the Annenbergs seem to think well of him, I do not know; on the other hand, I do not know Prof. Ayers. That some people have decided he needs to be defended via a petition evidences nothing more than that those people have their own views — views with which a great many academics would disagree. So, let’s get down to the good old brass tacks:The existence of this petition is not a basis for any claim that all academics are radicals, hypocrites, or ...whatever the generalized slurs are. It has nothing to do, in itself, with the election [unless it does in the minds of some of the signatories, which would simply demonstrate their poor reasoning]. I believe I’m with Frizbane Manley on this article and the comments: the news is mildly interesting (along the lines of “3rd Grade Class Locks Teacher in Closet with Angry Duck"), but it seems to have attracted the virulent posters who always seem to be hiding on the sidelines waiting to rush out and spout whatever — frequently incomprehensible — prepared spiels they have in their mental pockets.

cts, at 5:05 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

For Feudi Pandola

Feudi, dude, get a grip.

I never “counseled those who will not sign the ridiculous ‘Ayers Petition’” to do anything. I think the petition is kind of dumb and I agree that Ayers’ academic freedom appears to be in no jeopardy from the good folks at UI-Chicago.

Instead, my comments were addressed to those who still react with wild-eyed fury at the mere mention of some has-been relic of the 1960s who currently poses a danger to nobody. Forty years really is a long time, and this obsession some conservatives have with the Vietnam era got old sometime around the 1992 election. So really, yeah, get over it.

Barack Obama never met with any leaders of the Weather Underground. Rather, he met with a local college professor who shared his passion for reforming education and juvenile justice. And just because some of you still break out in hives whenever Peter, Paul, and Mary appear on the radio, that doesn’t mean that Obama is obligated to share your obsession, particularly since he was in Grade 4 about the time all the bad stuff came down.

Four decades, Feudi, four decades! Maybe, just maybe, it’s finally time to stop waving the bloody shirt.

Unapologetically Tenured, at 7:50 pm EDT on October 14, 2008

Ayers is a fool and a tool

I am fairly left wing and agree with many of the standard criticism of American government and society (racist, imperialistic, etc.), but this Ayers is a fool, along with the rest of his cronies. The fact that people would defend him makes a joke of them. I understand that he is rehabilitated and has done many good things in recent years, but the dude was such a mindless tool that he engaged in a task that is immoral and impractical to boot. I just can’t respect somebody completely out of touch with reality. Did these dopes seriously think they were going to bomb some places and change American society? It is unfathomable that anyone could be so naiive and/or stupid. Notice he does have a PhD in Eduction. Just sayin......

Chris, at 4:55 am EDT on October 15, 2008

Ayers

Ayers was not part of a Vietnam protest movement. He was a leader of the Weatherman faction of SDS which set out to spearhead a race war in America (the author of this article is either ignorant of the actual statements — “war communiques” issued by Ayers and his cohorts) or chooses to suppress this information. Ayers was still “underground” conducting military operations against this country when Jimmy Carter was president and the America military had been out of Vietnam for three years. Ayers has since continued his war against America, funding Afro-centrist racists, abetting voter fraud organizations like Acorn etc, and spreading Marxist claptrap through the K-12 schools.

david horowitz, at 4:55 am EDT on October 15, 2008

Unapolitigetically Tenured....dude?

Dude, get over it? I did get over it forty years ago when I registered as a conscientious objector. What did YOU do in the war daddy?

I was criticizing you for the amazing displays of arrogance that you and so many on the left display towards anyone who does not kowtow to your slant. Ya know, UT, it’s folks like you who make me question my decision to vote for Obama.

feudi pandola, at 8:05 am EDT on October 15, 2008

I signed the petition and I will tell you why I did

I signed the petition defending Dr. William Ayers and I will tell you why. I also teach at a state university. We are government employees. We are screened upon employment. Dr. Ayers did nothing illegal. Dr. Ayers was never convicted of anything, he turned himself in ... and he was never convicted of any crimes. You cannot name someone a criminal who is not guilty of anything at all.

I was a young in the 1960’s, I am able to recall the upheaval of the times and the polarization of the nation and how the Vietnam war created a great deal of anger and rage. Would we have the same anger surrounding someone who killed students at Kent State or Jackson State?

It was 40 years ago. By the standards some people on this board are citing would Werner Von Braun be permitted to work on NASA?

William Ayers is a professor of education, and a fine one at that. I have seen him at conferences, and read his works, and they are important well thought out, brilliantly theorized, and significant. I did not make the connection when I met him about his relationship to the weathermen. Does it change my opinion about him or his work? NO!

As academics our work is research and teaching and service. Dr. Ayers has done all three since he is tenured and a full professor. This has nothing to do with left or right, it has to do with academia.

Karen AAp, Dr., at 9:40 am EDT on October 15, 2008

In Response To Chris ... And Only Chris

First, I’ll try to look past your comment about Ayers having a degree in Education. What? ... your is in Political Science? ... Sociology? ... Business Management? ... oh, Wow!

Anyway, here’s my idea: We’ll get a few of the guys ... you know, the Sons of Liberty ... and we’ll dress up as Narragansett Indians ... and Thursday night we’ll sneak down to Griffin’s Warf, board the Dartmouth, the Eleanour, and the Beaver, and we’ll spend the night dumping tea into Boston Harbor.

That will show those Brits where they can shove their Stamp Act and their Townshend Act ... it will certainly make our beloved smuggler, Samuel Adams, wealthy beyond belief ... and who knows, it might incite a revolutionary war, enable us to write our own Constitution (and a Bill of Rights if we must) become the most powerful – not to mention the most sanctimonious – country in the world ... and the rest will be history, as they say? Are you up for that?

By the way, I have already sent a post to my friend Pierre suggesting that he get a few of his pals to storm the Bastille – it’s a prison in Paris, you know – knock down the doors, free the prisoners, capture the arms and gunpowder, set a few fires, and see where it goes. You know, I think a little violence like this could counter the actions of the despots who control our lives and make bad decisions on behalf of unwilling citizens ... and maybe even spread this new democracy stuff everyone seems to be talking about around the world. What do you think?

Frizbane Manley, at 10:07 am EDT on October 15, 2008

Ayers’s Defense

Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist who’s simply found other ways to advance his extremist agenda. The CAC millions Ayers collected and Obama administered were used, e.g., to fund organizations like the South Shore African Village Collaborative that promoted in Chicago schools the kind of Afro-centrist extremism of Obama’s (until made public, of course) pastor, Jeremiah “chickens come home to roost” Wright. (Ward Churchill doubtless savors this sort of “preaching.") Ayers the enemy of American institutions has merely adopted a different set of tactics that represent the short distance between Che Guevara and Saul Alinsky.

Ayers attended a so-called educational conference in Venezuela in 2006 in which he called for the destruction of the capitalist system while toadying up to the Venezuelan enemy of the US, socialist dictator and Thug-in-Chief Hugo Chavez. When out of the country among fellow revolutionaries Ayers evidently feels freer to voice his real revolutionary bent and the kind of anti-democratic regime he prefers.

Of course Ayers may say what he wishes, but his previous alliance with Obama is and should be a mighty embarrassment to the latter.

Harvester, at 1:10 pm EDT on October 15, 2008

Light weight Ayers.......

For a wonderfully lucid and facts-based assessment of the very kinds of marginal and sketchy “academics” that Frizbane so idolizes and extolls, see today’s piece by David Horowitz.......http://www.frontpagemag.com/Artic...B64B213A-9CD8-4878-B85A-9185DA53DB0C

All the IHE.com critical comments here of Ayers and his ilk are overdue and accurate......

Chuck, at 4:10 pm EDT on October 15, 2008

Good points Frisbane

What I meant by he has a PhD in education is that this tends to be a bastion of left wingery everywhere. I have seen Che Guevera murals on the wall of an education department at a university that will not be named. I actually like Che but there is a vast gap between being a peasant in Latin America and being a white dude in America in the 1960’s.

Chris, at 6:25 pm EDT on October 15, 2008

40 Years — Time is relative

Mr. Manley, if you were the child or brother or sister of one of the people killed or you were maimed by one the Weather Underground’s bombs, you might not think 40 years ago was that long ago.

Ginny, Management Professor Emeritus at Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, at 5:35 am EDT on October 16, 2008

Ayers and Weatherman movement

“Ayers was not part of a Vietnam protest movement. He was a leader of the Weatherman faction of SDS which set out to spearhead a race war in America.” This isn’t the way I remember things. My memory is more along the lines of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_(organization) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers

Stephen Satris, Weather Under, at 11:05 am EDT on October 16, 2008

Quick Response To Chuck and Ginny ...

First, you must have missed the part about my post being only in response to Chris’ comment.

Second, unless I’m mistaken, I did not say one word about the Weathermen ... not one word.

You guys need to learn to read more carefully ... and you especially need to learn to temper your accusations ... especially when they are based upon misjudgments. “Idolizes and extols” indeed.

Frizbane Manley, at 12:00 pm EDT on October 16, 2008

Jack Olson said:

“At last count, there were 3,247 signatories to the petition in support of Bill Ayers. He must feel proud to have such a long list of supporters, some obscure and some well-known.

His academic supporters include Mr. Jack Meoff of the University of West Kentucky; Wing Ding Weisenheimer of Barber College (#785); Sal Monella (#852) of the U of Texas; Aysheet Madraars (#1207) of U of Tennesee; and Cho Connarubber (#922), U of Central Kansas.

Ward Churchill is listed twice, at #393 and at #814. Maybe somebody plagiarized him.”

LOL—that looks like a voter registration list turned in by ACORN!

Hey, wait a minute......

jimbo, at 5:30 pm EDT on October 16, 2008

Reality Check

This petition should be an “eye opener” to every parent in America. As a parent of two students, I am outraged that there is so much support of Mr. Ayers by educators across this country. These are the educators that are “molding young minds” and are looked up to and respected for their knowledge by our children and young adults. By their endorsement and support of Mr. Ayers as a fellow educator for all his educational accomplishments, they are giving credibility to his previous actions. This is a dangerous position to be in when your talking about molding the minds of my children. Mr. Ayers should have never been allowed to become an educator in the first place due to his involvement with the Weather Underground, regardless of the lack of a conviction. What is wrong with an educational system that allows the employment of and ultimately celebrates anyone that has ANY involvement with atrocities or acts of violence of any kind, let alone a very specific set of anti-American ideals? Rehabilitated, changed or reformed are irrelevant when it comes to my family’s education. Yes, I want educators who will challenge my sons minds and make them think and present to them abstract ideas (not ideals), but I, MORE IMPORTANTLY, want educators who reinforce my teachings that we ALL have to live with our actions and the decisions we do and don’t make. Of course we can learn and change, but that never UN-does what we have already done.Mr. Ayers should keep his comments and education to himself and thank his lucky stars that he hasn’t spent the last 40 years rotting in a cell.

All of you educators who support Mr. Ayers, keep it to yourself, along with your political views, religion, sexuality, social views, etc., etc. Do what my tax and tuition dollars pay you to do, EDUCATE!

Ekul, Truth Teller at University of Reality, at 2:00 pm EDT on October 23, 2008

“Quick” Response To Mr. Manley...

You need to learn to read more carefully ... and you especially need to learn to temper YOUR accusations.

1) Specifically, what “accusation” did *I* make? 2) I read your comment “to Chris and ONLY Chris", thinking it might express an opinion from you. Is that not the case? Had you not been posting a comment to Chris, would your opinion have been different? You do not consider the U.S.A. to be “the most sanctimonious” country in the world unless you’re talking to Chris? Please clarify your intent as shown in the post to Chris. (Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed reading that post. You are indeed a creative writer and I am a history buff. I thought I got the point you were trying to make but apparently that was not the case.)3) “’Idolizes and extols’ indeed.” Do you normally attribute one blogger’s comments to another unrelated blogger’s comments? Temper MY accusations, of which there were none? A cliche about black, a pot, and a kettle come to mind.

By the way, of the four earlier articles you cite in your first post, you responded to three of them. I responded to none. So I guess I am not “... precisely the same respondents.” (Okay! I have to admit I hadn’t read those earlier articles or I probably WOULD have thrown in a post or two!)

And finally, I hate to admit this, stubborn Mohawk/German that I am, but I do look for your posts after many articles because they make me consider issues in a different light than most of the posts, thus opening up and exercising what little gray matter I have left between my ears. (Actually, I think it may have turned green or black awhile back and may smell musty.)

Ginny, Management Professor Emeritus at Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, at 1:55 pm EDT on October 24, 2008

Ginny ... One More Time ...

Ginny ... One More Time ...

I’ll try to straighten this out ... at least for myself.

Okay, I had two posts. I think the first one was inconsequential ... just one of my smart-ass comments. You know how it is, if IHE has a News article or a Views essay about Ward Churchill (and now Bill Ayres) ... or the number of Democrats in academe ... or David Horowitz ... or something along those lines, then the same bunch of individuals come out of the woodwork and write the same ol’, same ol’. Typically they lump together left-wingers, liberals, and Democrats on the one hand and right-wingers, conservatives, and Republicans on the other (apparently definitions are unnecessary) and treat them as if they’re two homogeneous groups locked in a battle to the death for societal and, therefore, academic supremacy.

In the scheme of things, it’s no big deal except that (1) their redundancy is tiring, (2) it invariably gets us off the subject, and (3) it occasionally precludes there being a pertinent discussion of an interesting News article or Views essay.

Anyway, I assumed your comment was not in response to that post. It must have been in response to my “only for Chris’s eyes” post. Now in my response to Chris, I wanted to take issue with his question, “Did these dopes seriously think they were going to bomb some places and change American society? It is unfathomable that anyone could be so naive and/or stupid.”

I intended my response to be, “Well of course they thought it would change American society ... and at least intensify our focus on the War Against the People of North Viet Nam.” I am not advocating a single act of the Weather Underground – not one – but I’m guessing there is a fine line between the rationale for “violence” effected at the Boston Tea Party or in the storming of the Bastille (both of which are revered actions in the annals of modern Democracy) and the violence of the Weather Underground. I just imagined Chris asking his same questions the day after the Boston Tea Party or the day after the Bastille was seriously damaged and the arms and gunpowder were stolen. But – and I want to reiterate this – I made no reference at all to either the Weathermen or Bill Ayres. They were not even in my line of sight.

Subsequently, you and Chuck wrote comments that I think (or thought) could only be interpreted as accusing me of defending the Weather Underground and Bill Ayres, and Chuck even made the idiotic claim that I idolize and extoll (sic) marginal and sketchy “academics” [like Ayers].

Then, Ginny, you wrote, “Mr. Manley, if you were the child or brother or sister of one of the people killed or you were maimed by one the Weather Underground’s bombs, you might not think 40 years ago was that long ago.” What was I to think? I had no idea what your reference to time meant ... and, as I said, my response to Chris mentioned neither the Weathermen nor Bill Ayers. While I’m certain your comment is true; since it was directed to me, it could only be an accusation that I had said something along the line of “Oh, that was 40 years ago; get over it,” while I would never, ever think of saying something like that.

If you don’t mind, I’ll attribute my failure to communicate here to (1) readers not being willing to take my “In Response To Chris ... And Only Chris” seriously and (2) reading as much into my comment as suited their prejudices (see my first post ... which, I hasten to add, was not about you).

Anyway.

Frizbane Manley, at 2:35 pm EDT on October 27, 2008

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