One year later, Ayers make Nebraska appearance
http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_6adfa198-d197-11de-8a8b-001cc4c002e0.html
By MELISSA LEE
November 14, 2009
OMAHA - A kindergartner once asked William Ayers:
Why does a ball bounce?
Ayers - noted scholar, author, education advocate - was momentarily stumped.
And that wasn't the only question he heard: Why do some people have
different-colored skin? Why is the sky blue?
Ayers may not have had all the answers, but he believes more citizens
need to follow children's inquisitive leads.
"In a democracy, we search, we find, we investigate, we interrogate,"
Ayers said Saturday in Omaha.
Later he added: "Democracy is a culture, and it's a tone ... and,
frankly, we're far from it."
Ayers, a former radical and now education professor at the University
of Illinois-Chicago, was the featured speaker at the annual meeting
of the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska.
The coalition pointedly invited Ayers after the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, citing security concerns, canceled an Ayers speech
that was to have taken place a year ago today.
Ayers was a co-founder of the Weather Underground, a group that
claimed responsibility for bombings of public buildings in protest of
the Vietnam War. News of his invitation to UNL last fall sparked an
immediate outcry, including criticism from the state's political leaders.
Several e-mails, phone messages and blog posts inspected by UNL
security experts contained explicitly violent language. UNL
Chancellor Harvey Perlman has said he was acting in the best interest
of the campus in disinviting Ayers.
But critics alleged a sacred value in academia had been breached.
"The academic freedom of those students and faculty (who invited
Ayers) was violated," Dwayne Ball, president of the Academic Freedom
Coalition, said before Ayers took the podium.
Ayers, speaking to a crowd of about 90, said he felt for the students
and faculty who had wanted to hear his speech but lost the opportunity.
And he said the cancellation offered a lesson: "Small, noisy
minorities often make things happen."
Ayers called on the University of Nebraska to re-invite him, saying
he still wants to speak on campus and that a re-invitation would be
"the only fair thing."
His remarks were warmly received inside, drawing head nods, jokes
during lighter moments and, when he finished, a standing ovation.
The protesters lining the street outside the hotel were far less welcoming.
"It's wrong that he should be here," said Park Blaine, 58, a
commercial electrician from Elkhorn.
Blaine carried a sign that read "Bill Ayers = Unrepentant Terrorist"
and had his "protest dog," a Jack Russell terrier named Micki, in tow.
"I don't like where the country is going," he said.
Other signs read "Bill Ayers Still Hates America" and "Bill Ayers:
Once a Terrorist, Always a Terrorist."
Bill Sole Sr., a 54-year-old industrial engineer from Omaha, said
Ayers never should have been invited to Nebraska - not even by a
privately funded group like the Academic Freedom Coalition.
"We're just American citizens that can tell the difference between
right and wrong," Sole said of the protesters.
Ayers said he's been disinvited before and warned such cancellations
have a chilling effect on academic freedom. Now, invitations to
controversial speakers sometimes aren't made at all for fear of a
backlash, he said.
He urged academic and political leaders to instead stand up for
academic freedom. After all, he said, schools, both at the K-12 and
postsecondary levels, play a key role in a democracy.
Young people must be taught to think for themselves, Ayers said, so
society can enjoy a "robust, vital dialogue."
He hailed the election of President Barack Obama but speculated some
in his audience likely were disappointed in how much progress the
Obama administration has made in areas like health care or the war in
Afghanistan.
Ayers urged his listeners to work for change from the ground up.
Yes, there's power in the White House, he said.
But there's also power in communities, in schools, in universities, he said.
"And it's that power that we're responsible for."
--
Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.
--------
Controversial Speaker Finally Getting Voice Heard in Nebraska
http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=11504146
Posted: Nov 13, 2009
by Todd Unger
A little more than a year ago, UNL yanked an invite for controversial
education figure Dr. Bill Ayers to speak at an education conference.
Saturday, though, the man who became embroiled in last year's
presidential race will speak in Nebraska.
The Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska, or AFCON, says their
annual meeting this weekend will address last year's predicament.
"We felt the main academic freedom issue of 2008 was the
disinvitation," says David Moshman, the group's public policy coordinator.
Close to 100 folks have preregistered for the Saturday morning forum
at The Holiday Inn at 72nd and Grover, according to organizers.
Ayers, a onetime radical who founded the group Weather Underground,
is the keynote speaker.
The organization claimed responsibility for bombing several
government buildings in the 1960's and 1970's.
Over the past couple of decades, Ayers has become a prominent urban
education spokesperson, and has spoken at more than 70 universities
about the topic.
He was invited to speak at UNL well before his relationship with then
candidate Barack Obama became a focal point of last year's
presidential race, but UNL officials eventually still canceled Ayers'
speech because they claimed it posed too much of a threat.
"Whatever diminishment of academic freedom that occurred because of
this cancellation seemed to be worth it so out kids had a safe
environment," said Chancellor Harvey Perlman at the time.
The public isn't invited to Saturday's event unless they preregistered.
Omaha police say they will step up their presence in the area, and
have a contingency plan in place if any disturbances develop.
--------
Ayers draws applause, protests
http://www.omaha.com/article/20091114/NEWS01/911149977
November 14, 2009
By Rick Ruggles
Former 1960s radical William Ayers would have spoken at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln exactly a year ago today, and he still
would like that opportunity.
The cancellation of his Nov. 15, 2008, appearance at UNL compelled
the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska to give Ayers the podium
Saturday at its annual meeting in Omaha.
Ayers received a standing ovation in the meeting room at the Holiday
Convention Centre, and protests outside.
At least a dozen people held signs on the sidewalk, conveying
messages that Ayers "still hates America" and that this nation needs
to "stand for American values."
"Practice responsible free speech," said the green placard held by
Janice Rustia of Omaha. "What would Reagan do?" was the messaage on
the sign belonging to Park Blaine of the Elkhorn area.
Ayers encouraged his audience of about 85 to question, challenge,
engage in dialogue and think for oneself.
"In a democracy, we search, we find, we investigate, we interrogate,"
Ayers, 65, told the audience.
More than 40 years ago, Ayers helped lead the Weather Underground,
which protested the Vietnam War by bombing public buildings such as
the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.
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