UNL cancels guest speaker William Ayers
politics, education, liberalism, left wing, extremism
October 17, 2008, by HENRY J. CORDES AND KHRISTOPHER BROOKS
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln should uninvite William Ayers to speak on campus, Nebraska's governor said today.
Gov. Dave Heineman released a statement saying that UNL leaders should not allow Ayers, a 1960s radical-turned-professor at the University of Illinois, to talk during a campus event on Nov. 15.
"Chairman of the Board of Regents Chuck Hassebrook and President of the University J.B. Milliken should immediately rescind the invitation extended to Bill Ayers to speak at the University," the governor said. "This is an embarrassment to the University of Nebraska and the State of Nebraska. Bill Ayers is a well known radical who should never have been invited to the University of Nebraska."
Meanwhile, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, today said in a statement that he is disappointed that UNL invited William Ayers to speak on campus Nov. 15.
"His past involvement in a violent protest group and incendiary comments are not consistent with the agenda of unity that we need in America today," Nelson said. "I encourage the university to reconsider this decision."