Several faculty members at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have reinvited a convicted terrorist to speak at the campus on Thursday night, drawing criticism from the campus’s chancellor and the UMass system’s president, Jack M. Wilson, The Boston Globe reported. Mr. Wilson said in a statement that he disapproved of the invitation but could not prevent the event, based on the principles of free speech, free assembly, and academic freedom. The speaker, Ray Luc Levasseur, served 18 years in federal prison for his involvement in a group that carried out a series of bombings in the 1970s and 80s. An earlier invitation for him to speak at a library symposium at Amherst had been canceled last week.
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4 Responses to UMass Leaders Disapprove of Faculty Invitation to Terrorist but Won’t Halt Speech
mart7624 - November 11, 2009 at 9:05 am
What a pity Ray can’t enjoy his First Amendment rights by speaking via a video conference from a prison cell.
mwcramer - November 11, 2009 at 10:38 am
Something tells me if it was Jim Gilchrist coming to speak, for example, that the principles of free speech, free assembly and academic freedom would suddenly not be quite as important.
dmccornac - November 11, 2009 at 5:36 pm
He served his time. At that point he should have all the rights and privilages of any citizen. If you do not agrees the issue is with the justice system not Ray Luc Levasseur. We let Menachem Begin and Arial Sharon speak. No one can deny they participated in terrorist activities.
maine216 - November 12, 2009 at 6:46 pm
As a tax payer in the state of Massaschuesetts – I don’t want my tax dollars going toward giving a terrorist a forum to speak. Everybody has a right to free speach – but if you yell fire in a movie theater it’s a crime. Using tax payer money to let a terrorist speak while we have our brave men and women in the armed forces on foriegn soil to protect are rights of all american citizens doesn’t sit well with me. Also, let’s not forget the brave men and women in law enforcment who are by the way our first line of defense when a terrorist attack occurs – 9/11 ring a bell to anybody?While we are on the subject of terrorism and Amherst – anybody that invites a terrorist to live in their community should be charged w/treason. As far as any charges that are incurred when a guest speaker goes to any college state or other wise – you might want to ask the facilites manager how much it costs to set the college up to have people come in and partipate.It’s almost sad that the poor terrorist couldn’t come to Amherst and see all the State Troops standing shoulder to shoulder as one unit in the memory of the lifes that this S.O.B. cut down for no good reason. I’ll sleep good tonite knowing that he didn’t win.