"Safety concerns have forced University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials to cancel plans for William Ayers to speak on campus.Ayers, who founded a group in the late 1960s that claimed responsibility for bombing several government buildings, was to speak Nov. 15."
The irony of the above news report is, of course, both obvious and grimly humorous to an objective reader. After all, the only dangerous crackpot in this affair is the arrogant, Marxist terrorist who was invited to be the guest of honor...not, as UNL officials would lead you to believe, the numerous Nebraskans who sent e-mails and made phone calls in protest of Ayers' paid appearance at UNL's College of Education birthday party.
Indeed, disingenuous UNL officials provided no evidence whatsoever of the "safety concerns that forced them" to cancel the event. Even Chuck Hassebrook, the chairman of the NU Board of Regents who had defended the school's choice of Ayers as a speaker, admitted that none of the messages that made their way to his office contained any threats of violence.
Those messages of protest, we are pleased to say, included this Vital Signs blog post which I forwarded to UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman and two personal e-mails from Claire and I, respectively.
And both of our e-mails, like I'm sure were the case with almost all others that were sent in, were firm but courteous and free from any coercive elements.
Threats? Violence? Safety Concerns? No, those don't come from the patriotic Nebraskans who simply voiced their opinions to UNL officials about the staggering impropriety of honoring an unrepentant domestic terrorist; they come instead from the likes of Bill Ayers who, when he didn't get his way, cravenly started throwing bombs.
We are certainly pleased that Bill Ayers was finally dis-invited. But one wishes that UNL officials would tell the truth about why they did so rather than lying about it and trying to blame the wrong people.
