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April 25, 2010, 06:48 PM ET
U. of Wyoming Defends Its Refusal to Rent Space for Ayers's Speech
The University of Wyoming argues in court documents filed on Saturday that safety concerns justify its refusal to allow William Ayers to speak at a building on the Laramie campus this week, the Casper Star-Tribune reported. Mr. Ayers, a former radical who is now a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Wyoming student are suing the institution for refusing to rent space for an event organized by a student after an earlier speaking engagement was canceled. A federal judge will consider on Monday on whether to force the university to allow the event to take place on the campus.
The Ticker is The Chronicle's breaking-news blog, with frequent updates from editors and reporters who scour the world for higher-education news.
Comments
1. 11274135 - April 26, 2010 at 10:05 am
If universities are not going to defend free speech, who is going to do so? In Wyoming, it looks like all it takes to silence a controversial speaker is for a handful of yobs wearing camo and living underground to send the university a few emails and anonymous missives (probably full of misspelled words made up of letters cut out of a copy of Guns and Ammo) threatening violence. This is when a real university, as well as local law enforcement, should stand up for free speech and do whatever is necessary to ensure that the speaker can speak in safety. It seems to me that the University of Wyoming is either showing moral cowardice or, what is worse, agreement with those who would silence this speaker.
2. middleamerican - April 26, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I agree with the first commentor in that universities need to be open forums for discussion. However, universities need to defend speech for all political opinions yet they often cave in when it comes to conservatives. Also, the sarcastic comments about "yobs wearing camo and living underground... probably full of misspelled words made up of letters cut out of a copy of Guns and Ammo" is immature and an inaccurate stereotype of the average person here in flyover land.
3. akprof - April 26, 2010 at 04:30 pm
Wyoming is Chenyland. Why is anyone surprised the Ayers appearance was not allowed?
4. 11274135 - April 26, 2010 at 04:56 pm
Hey, I live in Arizona, and I know what goes on in flyover land. Nevertheless, I apologive to the good open minded folks of Wyoming. But I imagine my description above is probably a pretty accurate for the folks who said (according to the AP quoting court documents) that the people who invited Ayers should "eat a load of buckshot" or that Ayers would be taken care of in "the Cowboy way." Actually, these guys sound like members of the Arizona state legislature!
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