In a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday in Cheyenne, Wyo., William Ayers and a student at the University of Wyoming say the institution violated their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly when it canceled a planned speech by Mr. Ayers. According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit contends that university officials are censoring Mr. Ayers “based solely upon his perceived message and his activist political background.” Mr. Ayers, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, belonged to a radical group responsible for bombings in the 1970s. The lawsuit seeks a court order forcing the university to allow Mr. Ayers to speak on the campus later this month. A university spokeswoman declined to respond, saying the university does not comment on litigation.
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5 Responses to Lawsuit Seeks to Force U. of Wyoming to Allow a Speech by William Ayers
vaneblucas - April 16, 2010 at 9:52 am
Interesting. Ayer’s had no respect for the law in the 1970′s and now wants the law, vis a vis the courts, to help him to force himself and his opinions on college student’s, at an institution where he is clearly not welcome. We truly are a great nation.Did I miss the article where The Chronicle chronicled Ann Coulter’s recent speaking engagement experience in Canada?
esselan - April 16, 2010 at 11:07 am
Yes, you did.
archman - April 16, 2010 at 11:33 am
When Ayers was invited to our university, we had the same minor ruckuss pop out from a small group of students and alumni. None of these people planned to even hear the man speak, if I recall correctly.I would wager that 95% of people who even recognize the name William Ayers no nothing more about him than what the few sentences in the Chronicle news item have written. Maybe that’s enough for most people to pronounce judgement, maybe not. In any event the man now seems to have a sort of “media magnetism” now, rather like Sarah Palin or reality TV stars. Wherever he goes, controversy and attention follows. Bleah.
lairdwilcox - April 17, 2010 at 9:46 am
I can’t imagine anybody I would disagree with more than Mr. Ayers but I think it was a mistake to keep him from speaking at the University of Wyoming. Our educational system functions best when it permits and even supports an interchange in controversial ideas. By allowing pressure groups and special interests to keep speakers from appearing on the campus the university has succumbed to an odious trend that threatens the very concept of a free and open society – organized harassment and persecution of unpopular and dissident points of view. Even Mr. Ayers opponents have a stake in his being able to express his views on the campus. Personally, I hope his message falls flat but I hope his lawsuit prevails.
soulgirl - April 17, 2010 at 11:37 am
I don’t believe that Ayers didn’t have respect for the Law-he didn’t like how the law was used for convenience. I am a staff person from the University of Wyoming and I really don’t care about his past-He has some interesting points about education which can form a good future for my children and that is my focus. I don’t like Ann Coulter but she shouldn’t have been denied either in speaking. If we are going to dig into terrorism-it is defined as threatening a community or group of people. So, lets see “Jim Crow” era, none of those people who were killing, beating people and discarding people of color ever had to answer questions and be accountable. How about Lynching? How about Watergate? How about Ohio with police shooting and killing protesters? How about the KKK? How about those pro-life that bomb clinics-In our own university-how about the coach who dictated what, where and how our black athletes were to behave? This coach from the “The Black 14″ was allowed to treat the black students with oppression and suppression and was supported by our University? I think about Emmit Till being beateb to death because he smiled at “white woman” and those men were found not guilty? We are afraid in this country to “think out of the box” because it interferes with our justification of being right or most imporatantly the fear of being wrong-We talk about terrorism-as the weapon-let me tell you what is a weapon. It happens on this UW campus and other communities and effects all sorts of people. The weapon is the tongue which is like a sharp bladed knife that cuts very deep. It is the worse weapon of all-preventing people to freedom of speech, beliefs and ideas. Look I may not like somone but that doesn’t give me the right to deny them their opinion. A person’s experience and truth are their’s alone and I need to show respect for that and have dialogue. Our university has suppressed this very idea and action. Shame on our University for the oppression-