A political controversy exploded around an announcement Oct. 17 that former political activist William Ayers would give a keynote address at a UNL research conference in November.
The university canceled Ayers’ speech the next evening after officials cited safety concerns.
The university’s threat assessment group monitored e-mails and other information UNL received regarding Ayers’ scheduled Nov. 15 visit and identified safety concerns, which resulted in the university canceling the event, according to a UNL news release.
Ayers, a distinguished professor of curriculum and an instructor at the
In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Ayers belonged to the radical anti-war group Weather Underground, which advocated violence and placed bombs at the Pentagon and the Capitol. This election season, Ayers has been the subject of controversy because of his alleged association with presidential candidate Barack Obama.
During the final presidential debate, Republican nominee John McCain demanded to know the extent of the relationship between Obama and Ayers.
Obama explained his relationship with Ayers was slight. “Mr. Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign,” Obama said. “And he will not advise me in the White House. So that’s Mr. Ayers.”
Ayers’ visit was for scholarly research only, not politics, UNL Dean Marjorie Kostelnik said in a statement. No state money was going to be used for the private lecture and no students or faculty were going to be required to attend.
“The controversy that has erupted during the election is unfortunate but it is not part of what he is asked here to Nebraska to discuss,” Kostelnik said. “Ayers was selected for the lecture in February by a faculty committee because of his expertise in research related to small schools and urban education.”
UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said in an e-mail to students Oct. 20 he would resign before accepting an order from the Board of Regents or NU President James B. Milliken to cancel Ayers’ visit. Perlman said that he, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Barbara Couture and Kostelnik made the decision together.
“The outrage by many Nebraskans was understandable, but I think unfortunate to the extent it led them to seek to prevent him from coming,” Perlman said. “Most alarming, however, were some responses that were threatening to the security of the campus. As many of you know, we have faculty on this campus who specialize in assessing the level of threat in any situation, and they informed me by e-mail in China that the tone and tenor of the e-mails, the phone calls and the blogs suggested that the reaction to any Ayers’ visit would represent a significant threat to the safety of the campus.”
Perlman added that the Ayers’ visit would have created a “three-ring circus” out of the student research conference, which would have prevented the university from taking advantage of his expertise.
Milliken did, however, reaffirm UNL’s commitment to free expression on campus.
“As uncomfortable as this experience has been, it serves as an important reminder that universities are founded on, and owe their success to, the principle of open exchange of ideas, free from political or popular pressure,” Milliken said in an op-ed piece distributed to media. “Free expression is a foundation of our democracy itself, which depends on more speech, not less, to inform thoughtful decisions. And this principle is tested most strenuously when the speech is most objectionable.”
Reaction to the Ayers speech announcement at UNO’s campus was generally muted.
Robert Franklin, general manager of KVNO Classical 90.7, said the radio station had received one phone call from a listener upset about the Ayers controversy. Steve Field, associate director of athletic media relations, said he had not heard of any Maverick season ticket holders who had called in.
There was still some cause for concern that the announcement would have had an impact on UNO. In a guest editorial in the Omaha World-Herald on Oct. 17, Regent Randy Ferlic called on university supporters to withhold money from the university to respond to the Ayers announcement.
“The invitation of William Ayers to be the keynote speaker at the Nov. 15 centennial celebration of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Education and Human Sciences violates all sensibilities and speaks volumes about the arrogance of University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken, UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman and the UNL education faculty,” Ferlic said. “There are several ways to protest, but the most effective is a financial moratorium on tax dollars and donations.”
The World-Herald also reported on its Web site Friday that the Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation would “halt all future contributions to the university” if Ayers was not un-invited to speak at the conference. A call to foundation president Neely Kountze was not answered on Oct. 17.
The Hitchock Foundation has contributed money to UNO in the past. One of the foundation’s donations to UNO was in 2005 to help refurbish the Mallory Kountze Planetarium in the Durham Science Center, according to The Gateway’s archives. The Physics Department was unable to immediately provide information on the size of the foundation’s contribution on the afternoon of Oct. 17.
UNO Television’s Web site also lists the foundation as a supporter of its documentaries “Omaha Since World War II: The Changing Face of the City” (2004), “Westward the Empire:
Several prominent Nebraskans issued statements condemning the decision to invite Ayers in the first place. Among those criticizing the invitation were Milliken, Gov. Dave Heineman, Sen. Ben Nelson, Rep. Lee Terry and Attorney General Jon Bruning.
(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services contributed to this report. Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in The Gateway on Oct. 24.)
