[4 items]

Ex-Weather Underground member to speak at CU

http://www.kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=9879321

Associated Press - February 20, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Former left-wing radical William Ayers is 
coming to Colorado for a speech at the state's flagship university, 
just after being denied entry to Canada to make a speech there.

Ayers has been invited to speak next month at the University of 
Colorado in Boulder. Also speaking is Ward Churchill, a former CU 
professor fired two years ago on plagiarism allegations after he 
equated some Sept. 11 victims to Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

Ayers is a former member of the Weather Underground who featured 
prominently in Republican efforts to thwart Barack Obama's 
presidential campaign. Ayers was invited to speak at the University 
of Toronto last month, but Canada denied his entry.

Churchill and Ayers will take part in a student-organized lecture 
about academic freedom March 5.

Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/

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Central Pa. GOP reps want Ayers visit canceled

http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_11749248

The Associated Press
Posted: 02/20/2009

MILLERSVILLE, Pa.­Seven Republican state representatives from central 
Pennsylvania have written to university officials urging them to 
cancel an upcoming campus lecture by a former radical activist.

The Lancaster County lawmakers say the appearance by William Ayers at 
Millersville University would be inappropriate. His role in the 
radical Weather Underground 40 years ago became an issue in the 
recent presidential campaign.

Millersville spokeswoman Janet Kacskos says the March 19 event is 
expected to go on as scheduled.

State System of Higher Education spokesman Kenn Marshall says system 
Chancellor John Cavanaugh hopes to meet with the lawmakers to discuss 
their concerns.

Phone and e-mail messages left Friday for Ayers were not immediately returned.
--

Information from: Lancaster New Era, http://www.lancasteronline.com

--------

Pennsylvania lawmakers protest Bill Ayers speech at Millersville University

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1444129,w-bill-ayers-millersville-university022209.article

February 22, 2009

MILLERSVILLE, Pa. ­ Republican state representatives from central 
Pennsylvania have written to university officials urging them to 
cancel an upcoming campus lecture by former radical activist William Ayers.

The Lancaster County lawmakers say the appearance at Millersville 
University would be inappropriate. His role in the radical Weather 
Underground 40 years ago became an issue in the recent presidential campaign.

Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Millersville spokeswoman Janet Kacskos says the March 19 event is 
expected to go on as scheduled.

State System of Higher Education spokesman Kenn Marshall says system 
Chancellor John Cavanaugh hopes to meet with the lawmakers to discuss 
their concerns.

Messages left Friday for Ayers weren't immediately returned.

Meanwhile, Ayers also has been invited to speak at Colorado's 
flagship university. Ayers is slated to appear next month at the 
University of Colorado in Boulder.

Also speaking is Ward Churchill, a former CU professor fired two 
years ago on plagiarism allegations after he equated some Sept. 11 
victims to Nazi Adolf Eichmann Churchill and Ayers will take part in 
a student-organized lecture about academic freedom March 5.

--------

Protestors out of line

http://media.www.smccollegian.com/media/storage/paper841/news/2009/02/18/Opinion/Protestors.Out.Of.Line-3632631.shtml

Bryant West
Issue date: 2/18/09

January 28 was the most rowdy I have ever seen our school without 
sports involved. Having the infamous Bill Ayers, as a campus speaker, 
will do that to a school, especially right after his recent media 
attention during the election as "that terrorist that Obama knows." 
The Soda Center was packed and many students and spectators could not 
even get in, while protesters marched and chanted their anger at 
Ayers and Saint Mary's.

But as all of the attention focused on the protestors,which consisted 
of a group called Move America Forward, who donned signs and chanted 
"Ayers lied, people died," the Saint Mary's students were the ones 
who were misrepresented in all the mess. Certainly, a good number of 
the students crowding outside of the Soda Center were there for the 
spectacle of it all, but many just wanted the right to hear Ayers 
talk, whether or not they agreed with the protestors. But what plenty 
of the students were upset over was the fact that the protestors 
treated us like ignorant young children who needed protection.

I have no problem with protesting Ayers. The man has admitted to 
bombing U.S. buildings and repeatedly said he does not feel bad about 
it. There is nothing wrong with the protesting, but it was the 
group's patronizing attitude to "protect" the students, their desire 
to keep students out of the talk, that was the real problem. "If we 
don't speak up, who will?" protestor Nancy Messer told the Contra 
Costa Times. "We don't want [the students] corrupted." Excuse me? Are 
we college students, or kindergarteners? I did not realize that being 
in college- this supposed higher standard of learning, meant that we 
had to be protected from big, bad Bill Ayers, come all this way to 
turn students into "terrorists."

Rochelle Bird, a Saint Mary's graduate, told the Contra Costa Times 
that she intended to bring her family to the lecture to take up seats 
that, according to the Contra Costa Times article, "might otherwise 
be filled with impressionable students." Apparently, we are all so 
malleable that we can not hear someone talk without filtering 
anything out. Protesting the lecture? That is perfectly fine. Keeping 
students out for our "intellectual safety"? That is robbing us of our rights.

It is the students who should have the first chance to hear anyone, 
including Ayers. The protestors violated our rights by trying to 
"protect" us by keeping us out and treating us all like ignorant fools.

.


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