Crossposted from the news blog

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has rescinded a speaking invitation to William Ayers, an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago whose former role in a violent 1960s-era group has turned him into a polarizing figure in the race for the White House this year, the Omaha World-Herald. reported.

Mr. Ayers, whose occasional ties to Barack Obama have been played up by the campaign of John McCain, had been scheduled to deliver a keynote address at a College of Education and Human Sciences event on November 15, 11 days after the election.

The university, citing “safety concerns” in its decision to cancel Mr. Ayers’s speech, received hundreds of telephone calls and e-mail messages protesting the professor’s planned visit. Several donors also complained about Mr. Ayers’s appearance, including a charitable foundation in Omaha that announced it was pulling all of its contributions to the university.

Several state politicians also called for the speech to be canceled, including both U.S. senators, a Democrat and a Republican, and Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican. “Our citizens are clearly outraged and want action,” Mr. Heineman told the newspaper. “This is their university. This isn’t even a close call. The university should immediately rescind the invitation.”

Some professors say the university’s actions could be perceived as academic censorship and make it harder to attract faculty members. However, the university’s chancellor, Harvey Perlman, says the cancellation was motivated only by safety concerns, the World-Herald reported today. At a news conference this morning and in an e-mail message to students, Mr. Perlman also defended the university’s invitation to Mr. Ayers as appropriate, saying it had been extended in February, well before the professor became “a central figure in a bitterly contested presidential election.”