Ayers Purdue talk under tight control

William Ayers

When former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers speaks to education faculty and students at Purdue University tomorrow night, it will be by invitation only with an audience limited to about 100, as groups organize demonstrations against the unrepentant domestic terrorist and Chicago-area supporter of Barack Obama.

Ayers, now a "distinguished professor of education" at the University of Illinois–Chicago, went underground in the 1970s with an organization claiming credit for bombings of the U.S. Capitol and dozens of other targets. His wife, Bernardine Dohrn, was on the FBI's most wanted list as a fugitive and was identified by an FBI undercover agent as the person responsible for the assassination of a San Francisco policeman.

Ayers and Dohrn never have renounced their terrorist activism of the 1970s. Meanwhile, Ayers and Obama worked together in non-profit community organizing activity in the 1990s. In fact, Obama kicked off his political career in Illinois with a fundraiser at the home of Ayers and Dohrn.

Some on the Purdue campus are fighting mad about the invitation.

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"Ironically the department of sociology cites Mr. Ayers' invitation being based on his merits on the topic of education," Purdue junior Katie Ryan, chairwoman of the campus College Republicans, told the campus paper. "One would think that they would try and expound his 'supreme knowledge' on as large of a crowd as possible."

Only select faculty, staff and students will receive invitations. They will include those in the fields of sociology, women's studies, African-American studies, education and child development. Any remaining seats, Purdue announced, will be offered to students in the areas of anthropology, philosophy, political science, communication, history, psychological sciences, foreign languages and literatures, and English.

Those attending will have their Purdue identification cards checked at the door.

The title of Ayers' speech is "Inequality and Education: The Challenge for Urban Schools."

No media or faculty will be allowed to take photos of Ayers during his discussion or make audio or video recordings of the talk. In addition, no overflow rooms for satellite viewing of Ayers' talk will be made available.

Campus and community groups have said they are planning to protest Ayers' appearance on campus. They say they'll target Purdue, too, for allowing him to speak.

"We are protesting both Mr. Ayers and the Purdue administration's embarrassment of our great school's tradition of class, integrity and character, a move taxpayers do not approve of," Ryan said.

Funding for the event comes from Purdue sociology professor Carolyn Cummings Perrucci and sociology professor emeritus Robert Perrucci.