Thousands of Academics Sign on to Support Bill Ayers

[tekisui]

More than 3,000 academics have shown their support for embattled University of Illinois professor William Ayers.

"I think he's doing a lot of positive, progressive, constructive work right now" in the field of education, said Brown University English professor and inaugural signatory William Keach to the Brown Daily Herald.

Ayers, a co-founder of the Weather Underground in 1969, has been connected repeatedly with Senator Obama by the McCain campaign, which paints Ayers as a "domestic terrorist" who "bombed the Pentagon." Governor Palin charged in a Colorado speech on October 4 that Senator Obama is "someone who sees America...as so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

The Weather Underground's protests of the Vietnam War were part of a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government, which included marches, riots and bombings of banks and government buildings.

Senator Obama has distanced himself from Ayers' Weather Underground days, noting that he was eight years old when the group was formed. Obama and Ayers worked together in Chicago while living in the same neighborhood in the 1990s, with Ayers hosting a "coffee" for Obama's first run for office, which has prompted accusations of Obama launching his political career "from Mr. Ayers' living room." Obama and Ayers served together on the board of the anti-poverty Woods Fund of Chicago between 2000 and 2002. Both have worked in education reform.

"It's easy to paint someone with a broad brush," added signatory and lecturer Constance Crawford, who emphasized appreciation for Ayers' more recent accomplishments rather than focusing on the Vietnam era. "It's easy to vilify, but it's harder to consider."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Thousands_of_academics_sign_on_to_1022.html

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Bill Ayers is not embattled

He sits at the pinnacle of an academic hierarchy.

For people not in academe, let me explain: what happens in the press has little impact on what happens in institutions.

Bill Ayers is, has been, and will be a bigshot, academically speaking. He's not going anywhere.

[kansasblue]

2. On a related note: Let me apologize for my alma mater (University of Nebraska) for

canceling Ayers visit to UNL in mid November.

http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/31107789.html

Safety concerns forced University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials Friday to cancel plans for William Ayers to speak on campus next month.

Ayers founded the group Weather Underground in the late 1960s that claimed responsibility for bombing several government buildings, including the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.

Ayers, an education professor in Illinois, was slated to speak about education issues at a November 15th conference sponsored by the College of Education and Human Sciences.

[progressoid]

4. This will be better in the long run for all of us.

It's sad they canceled him but we don't need more of Ayers on the front pages and the nightly news right now.

I heard some locals on call-in shows about this. Twas scary. :scared:

[liberalmuse]

3. Bill Ayers is a true American.

All this 'terrorist' shit has me pretty pissed off. 'The Weather Underground' was NOT a terrorist organization. Period.

On edit: I do not agree with violence against human beings or animals, but I have to say, that violence against 'The system' is something I advocate. I will NEVER harm a human being or animal.

The Weather Underground was not responsible for the death of a single human being, except for their leader, who was building a bomb to set off during a military dance. The leader and his closest followers ended up dead, and this brought a lot of introspection into the group. They realized that it was not worth the cause to kill a single precious human being. That being said, I do admire what these people did and were willing to risk to fight against an atrocity, however, fighting atrocity with atrocity will never work. No matter how bad things get, do not compromise your values, or become like those you consider the 'enemy'. I know I won't. No cause is worth harming another being.

[progressoid]

5. Sadly, it won't make any difference to a lot of Americans.

These are just elitist intellectuals anyhow, donchaknow.

[tekisui]

6. Real Americans or Fake America-Hating Americans?

:shrug:

[TheKentuckian]

7. No, the really sad thing is

it will quite possibly set off a fresh round of anti-intellectualism and stand as more "proof" of the dangers of "liberuh edgiecayshun" in certain quarters.

[RichGirl]

8. What really bothers me about the whole Ayers story...

...is that part of being American is that we believe in second chances. Didn't McCain get a second chance after the Keating thing. Yet he demonizes this man just to win an election.

(I'm think that those 3,000, and most acedemics would vote for Obama.)