Free speech: Bill Ayers sues university for being denied a chance to speak

First plans to have one-time vice presidential timber Sarah Palin speak at a university campus fundraiser stirred a stink among California liberals, now, on the other end of the political spectrum, the University of Wyoming is being sued for canceling a speaking invitation to just-a-guy-who-lives-in-Obama’s-hood Bill Ayers.

Ayers has filed a federal suit claiming his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by the cancellation.

Ayers admits to being a leader of the Weather Underground, which was accused of blowing up buildings during the Vietnam War era, but now says he is a distinguished professor of education who writes and speaks on such topics as “social justice, democracy and education, the cultural contexts of schooling, and teaching as an essentially intellectual, ethical, and political enterprise.”

After his acquittal on a technicality of charges of murdering police and bombing military buildings, Ayers is quoted was saying, “Guilty as hell and free as a bird. Isn’t this a great country!”

His suit calls his campus appearance ban prior restraint. It also claims the university received threats, such as one from a Cheyenne resident active in the Wyoming Patriot Alliance, saying “[m]aybe someone could take him out and show him
the Matthew Sheppard (sic) Commerative (sic) Fence and he could bless it or something.”

Is a state university campus hall the same as a public sidewalk or public park?

Frankly, I think the university should’ve given him his chance to speak, along with a few of those who might point out Ayers’ history and controversial stances on the purpose of public education as indoctrination in liberal ideologies.

But freedom of speech does not equate to the requirement that everyone be given a forum. The Review-Journal can accept or reject written contributions. Private organizations can pick who they wish to hear. A public campus might be in one of those penumbras judges like to talk about. If the suit goes forward it will be interesting to hear the arguments pro and con.

U of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan is quoted as saying by Courthouse News Service, "Academic freedom is a core principle of any institution of higher education. But with that freedom comes an obligation to exercise free thought and free speech in concert with mutual respect and acknowledgment of broader resource and security impacts on the campus. The exercise of freedom requires a commensurate dose of responsibility."

He also said his university did not "cave to external pressure," but was "sensitive to the outpouring of criticism."

Repentant?