Bill Ayers
Maybe Wyoming's not the right place for you, Bill.
Poor victimized Bill Ayers is suing the University of Wyoming for not allowing him to speak on campus. Here's the report from Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/17/controversial-professor-ayers-suing-univ-wyoming/?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r1:c0.000000:b0:z5
So the legal-beagle question is whether the University of Wyoming (a public university) is denying Ayers his right to free speech. In my non-constitutional view, Ayers has every right to spout his crap on a street corner soapbox. I don't see where the university has any obligation to provide this character with a platform.
Of course, Ayers has all the right connections. He can complain to Eric Holder. Maybe the Justice Department will assist in the lawsuit.
Of course, he will always be welcome at UC Santa Cruz (America's Wackiest University).
What if this was the same story, but it was some right-wing pundit like Ann Coulter who was not allowed to speak on the campus? I think that the entire tone of this entry would be pretty darned different.
ReplyDeleteAnn Coulter has had speeches
ReplyDeletecancelled because of the rabble-rousers-just last month at the Univ of Ottawa. She has also had pies thrown at her on stage.
On the other hand, Ann Coulter was never a person who set off bombs or was the object of an FBI manhunt. AQnn Coulter loves her country-unlike Ayers. So I don't think it is fair to compare Ann Coulter to this scumbag.
So universities should only support people who "love" our country then, right? Indoctrination is fine - just so long as it's the right kind of indoctrination.
ReplyDeleteEither you're for freedom of speech and an open forum or you're not.
I couldn't give a toss about Bill Ayers - at least with his old radical agenda. Doesn't he talk more about helping out kids in poor areas now?
Anyway, Ann Coulter doesn't love her country. She clearly hates about half of the people in it. She's all talk when she speaks of patriotism because she doesn't understand some of the basic tenets of what this country was founded on.
Bill Ayres can say whatever he wants on any street corner he wants. I am only saying that I don't see where any institution is obligated to provide him his platform.
ReplyDeleteBut are they obligated to provide anybody a platform?
ReplyDeleteLance,
ReplyDeleteI may lose my case in court on this question, but I can assure you, at fousesquawk university, nobody has a right to step onto my campus and speak.