Former radical to speak at ACC despite student's protest
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 7:10 p.m. Sunday to correct the
last name of LSD advocate and psychologist Timothy Leary.
QUEENSBURY -- Despite one student's vehement request to cancel a visit
by war protester Jeff Jones - a leader in an organization that bombed
multiple government buildings - he will speak at Adirondack Community
College on Monday.
Jones, who said he was arrested 14 times for his political activities
between 1967 and 1981, is giving a lecture at ACC about activism in the
1960s.
The speech is part of a weeklong teach-in about what being a student in
the '60s was like.
One ACC student, who also attended college in Troy in the '70s, was
shocked to hear that Jones was speaking and visiting classes.
Jones played a leading role in the Weather Underground, which in 1970
bombed numerous commercial and state and federal government buildings,
the New York Police Department, killed a San Francisco police officer in
a bombing that injured several other officers and carried out a
jailbreak for LSD advocate and psychologist Timothy Leary, according to
FBI records.
"Having lived through the '60s and having gone to college in the early
1970s, I can assure you that the Weather Underground was considered in
the same league as Charles Manson's crowd, that is, as a group of
disturbed murderers," the student wrote to the school's dean of students
on Jan. 31.
Jones engaged in numerous protests connected with violence, which
included the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the 1969
"Days of Rage" riots, where protesters
damaged vehicles and property and fought with police that October.
"College students of the time were more afraid of terrorism from the
Weathermen than current day students (are) afraid of al-Qaida attacks,"
the student wrote.
The student requested his name not be used due to safety concerns.
School officials were aware of Jones' past, college spokesman Mark
Parfitt said.
In talking with an ACC administrator, the student had noted the school's
policy requires that incoming students must undergo special approval for
admission if they have a felony conviction.
Parfitt said he was unaware of any similar restrictions in place for
speakers. He said the school does look at relevancy, appropriateness and
safety concerns on a case-by-case basis.
No other students have complained, he added.
Jones, who lives in Albany, said Friday the student has nothing to worry
about.
Jones currently runs a consulting company and also acts as an
environmental activist.
He has advocated to remove PCBs from the Hudson River due to discharges
from the General Electric Company and was a defendant in Adirondack
League Club v. Sierra Club, a case that has allowed recreational boaters
on many New York state rivers. Jones and four others in canoes and a
kayak traveled the Moose River in 1991, and were sued.
Details about Jones' past are documented in a book titled "A Radical
Line," which his son, Thai Jones, authored.
Jeff Jones' political activism spans more than 50 years, and began as
early as 1965 with a protest in Cincinnati as a college freshman. He
dropped out of Antioch College a year and a half later to become the New
York City regional coordinator for Students for a Democratic Society,
which later splintered into the Weather Underground.
The FBI has released some files pertaining to Jones and his activities
with the Weather Underground. But hundreds of pages appear to show
nothing more than visits Jones made to Cuba and Vietnam and interviews
with Cuban radio stations.
Other Weathermen members were connected with bomb-making activities, the
documents show.
He did flee from a charge about crossing state lines to incite a riot,
hiding from authorities for 11 years as a fugitive, according to an
activist essay he wrote as part of a book called "Against the War."
FBI staffer Dennis Argall, a Freedom of Information Act public liaison
officer, said the agency generally does not release files for people
still alive.
In the past, it's released some files on those who have died, like U.S.
government critic Howard Zinn.
Argall said the right to privacy generally outweighs the public interest
for those still living. But people with files can submit a Freedom of
Information Act request for their own files.
Jones said he once inquired to obtain the files the FBI has on him, but
the cost was about $1 a page to copy the files, which numbered in the
thousands.
--
http://m.poststar.com/news/local/article_9f9ad8b0-31ab-11e0-a776-001cc4c002e0
.html
Via InstaFetch
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