http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2009/ss_politics0623_08_05.asp
By Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media
August 5, 2009
The University of Illinois, which employs communist terrorist Bill
Ayers as a professor, has been hit by an admissions scandal which has
forced the resignation of the chairman of its board of trustees. An
investigation by the Chicago Tribune found that more than 800
undergraduate applicants received special consideration from 2005 to
2009 because "they had powerful patrons, including elected officials,
trustees and donors." It added that "Dozens more law and graduate
school applicants also got preferential treatment."
But how did Bill Ayers get his job? All signs point to his rich
father, Thomas Ayers, who was CEO of Commonwealth Edison and a major
power player in the Chicago establishment.
Will the Chicago Tribune investigate this? Thomas Ayers sat on the
board of the Tribune Company, which publishes the Tribune.
Thomas Ayers also sat on the board of Northwestern University, where
Bill Ayers' wife and fellow terrorist Bernardine Dohrn got a teaching job.
As a result of what the Tribune has revealed in the admissions
scandal, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn created an Illinois Admissions
Review Commission, which is scheduled to release a written report on
the controversy this week. However, the commission has not been
charged with investigating how professors got their jobs. This is a
major omission.
Considering his history of terrorism, including bombing police
stations, many people have been intrigued by the question of how Bill
Ayers got to be a tenured "Distinguished Professor" of Education at
the University of Illinois. That is why I submitted a state Freedom
of Information Act request to the University of Illinois. I wanted to
know how he was appointed and how he got tenure. I then asked
Professor Mary Grabar, who has completed a major report (PDF) on the
work and history of Professor Bill Ayers, to analyze the results of
my request. She reports:
"A review of Ayers' Curriculum vitae shows a rapid path through the
educational system after he came out of hiding in 1979 for his
involvement in bombings of U.S. government buildings with the
domestic terrorist group Weatherman. Charges were dropped after the
Carter Justice Department charged the two FBI agents with illegal
surveillance. Enrolling at the nation's premier training academy for
progressive teachers, Columbia University's Teachers College, Ayers
soon earned both an M.Ed. and Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching (1987).
"A Freedom of Information request for his tenure review process
produced only blank forms with a cover letter stating that such
information cannot be released 'unless the disclosure is consented to
in writing by the individual.' But were the standards for hiring and
promotion relaxed a bit for the son of a prominent Chicago
businessman who headed Commonwealth Edison and sat on the board of
the Chicago Tribune? Tenure requires proof of scholarship and
publication in one's field, and the only book that Ayers had to show
was a loosely constructed story of six anonymous preschool teachers,
with none of the rigorous evaluation and data normally required in the field.
"But an examination of his writings and syllabi reveal that Ayers
continued in this vein, using his platform as a professor to promote
the idea of education as the 'motor force of revolution' and himself
as the hero at the forefront. They reveal an educational philosophy
that contradicts the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards posted
on the university's website. The question remains: how many others
could have made such a seamless rise from fugitive to distinguished
professor while flaunting all standards?"
Another of our Freedom of Information Act requests resulted in the
disclosure of a syllabi for a curious course entitled, "Social
Conflicts of the 1960's." Two of the three pages are a diatribe,
mostly against the U.S. policy of resisting the communist conquest of
South Vietnam. It's not exactly clear how students were supposed to
be graded for taking this "seminar," but Ayers concludes the course
description by saying, "Show up or be doomed," and if you want to
bring your children to the class, that's "fine."
Sounds like a great learning environment.
Clearly, the scandal involving the University of Illinois goes far
beyond hundreds of students getting admitted because of high-level
financial and political connections.
Mary Grabar's report demonstrates that Ayers' techniques are recycled
Stalinist strategies of undermining American culture and education in
order to bring about revolution. She asks, "Was Ayers' appointment
part of the 'Chicago Way'?"
Before the Illinois Admissions Review Commission finishes its work,
this is a question that should be investigated and answered. Illinois
Governor Pat Quinn created the commission through an executive order
saying that "fairness and transparency in the administration of an
educational system is a fundamental aspect of the public trust." A
new executive order should be issued to permit the panel to examine
how Ayers got his teaching job.
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