Updated 4.27.10--scroll to the end for the ruling
Image Source
The University of Wyoming Social Justice Research Center invited a noted scholar of education to give a public lecture titled Trudge Toward Freedom: Moral Commitment and Ethical Action. Here's an overview in the words of the scholar:
What makes education in a democracy, at least theoretically, distinct is a commitment to a particularly precious and fragile ideal: every human being is of infinite and incalculable value, each a unique intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, and creative force. Every human being is born free and equal in dignity and rights; each is endowed with reason and conscience, and deserves, then, a sense of solidarity, brotherhood and sisterhood, recognition and respect. Democracy is geared toward participation and engagement, and that points to an educational system in which the fullest development of all is seen as the necessary condition for the full development of each, and conversely, that the fullest development of each is necessary for the full development of all.
In a vibrant and participatory democracy, we might conclude that whatever the wisest and most privileged parents want for their children is precisely the baseline and standard for what the wider community wants for all of its children. If children of privilege get to have small classes, abundant resources, and a curriculum based on opportunities to experiment and explore, ask questions and pursue answers to the furthest limit, if the Obama kids, for example, attend such a school, one where they also find a respected and unionized teacher corps, shouldn't that be good enough for the kids in public schools everywhere? Any other ideal for our schools, in John Dewey's words, "is narrow and unlovely; acted upon it destroys our democracy."
A loud, monied, anti-intellectual minority made a ruckus, and the university cancelled the speech, which was originally slated for April 5.
I think there are two fundamental elements motivating the proponents of censorship:
1. The speaker is Dr. William Ayers of the University of Chicago University of Illinois at Chicago, whom Sarah Palin accused of being a terrorist in the 2008 presidential campaign;
2. The concept of social justice does not mean what Glenn Beck (et. al.) think it means. Much of the fray seems to center around Ayers' involvement with the Weather Underground four decades ago and the unsupported assertion that "social justice" is a cover for subversively indoctrinating impressionable college students into a cult of (shudder...) social justice. In the Beckian fantasy scenario, "justice" is the preferred tool of a totalitarian dictatorship.
Ayers addresses his Weather Underground history, and has elsewhere expressed regret for his actions of forty years ago:
[...]in the 1960's I was a leader of the militant anti-war group, Students for a Democratic Society, and then a founder of the Weather Underground, an organization that carried out dramatic symbolic attacks against several monuments to war and racism, crossed lines of legality, of propriety, and perhaps even of common sense. And then during the 2008 presidential I was unwittingly and unwillingly thrust upon the stage because I had known-like thousands of others-Barack Obama in Chicago. The infamous charge that the candidate was "pallin' around with terrorists," designed to injure Obama, also demonized me. I've been an educator and professor for decades, but the hard right has accelerated the lunacy against thousands of folks- activists and artists, academics and theorists, outspoken radical thinkers-and wherever possible mounted campaigns exactly like the one in Wyoming.
[The head of the UW Educational Studies Dept.] Rios admitted the animosity in the e-mails and phone messages shocked him.
“While I was expecting some people to reject his visit,” Rios said, “we were absolutely surprised at the number of people expressing objections and the intensity of their objections.”
While a “small handful” of people sent e-mails or left phone messages to ask questions about Ayers’ public lecture, the majority were hostile attacks, Rios said.
“Almost everyone used the word ‘terrorist,’” he recalled. “They also included references to Hitler, al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, Charles Manson and (Lynette) Squeaky Fromme. It was incredible.”
In the e-mails and phone messages, Rios said people attacked him personally, as well as the dean of the College of Education, the board of trustees and UW President Tom Buchanan.
“They were difficult to read and to listen to,” Rios admitted.
With the public debate spinning out of control, Rios said he realized Ayers’ visit had turned into something other than being about social justice in education.
“I soon realized that this talk was no longer about social inequality in schooling,” he said. “I began to fear that an intellectual exchange … and a constructive dialogue undertaken in a climate of respect would not be possible.”
Rios said the threats of violence he and the SJRC had received presented a danger to the UW Lab School students, who would have been in the building rehearsing for a performance at the same time as Ayers’ public lecture in the auditorium.
One audience member, UW Veterinary Science professor Donal O’Toole, said the threats had included the bombing of the College of Education building.
“I felt that putting them in harm’s way was too much to ask,” Rios said.
The atmosphere was so heated Rios said UW Police Chief Troy Lane had told him they had ordered bomb-sniffing dogs to be in the College of Education Auditorium before and during Ayers’ public lecture.
In addition, the Office of Homeland Security had been contacted due to the threats of violence, Rios said.
University of Wyoming student activist Meg Lanker is working with a Denver attorney to bring Ayers to the University of Wyoming later this month. She is very courageously and publicly fighting for the free exchange of ideas. I saw one comment in the Casper Star Tribune suggesting that Ms. Lanker was in need of a good spanking. Future updates on Ms. Lanker's efforts are likely to be found here, and here. If you're in the mood to question the evolutionary fitness of our species, skim some comments on the Ayers-related articles.
Underlying the entire discussion is the painful history of social justice in Wyoming. Ayers gives an unfortunate example:
Update----------------
So, how does a loud, monied, anti-intellectual hard-right minority protest a reformed radical who is now, and has for decades been, a respected educator? How do they combat an imaginary threat from totalitarian justice? Why, by threatening domestic terrorism, of course!
[The head of the UW Educational Studies Dept.] Rios admitted the animosity in the e-mails and phone messages shocked him.
“While I was expecting some people to reject his visit,” Rios said, “we were absolutely surprised at the number of people expressing objections and the intensity of their objections.”
While a “small handful” of people sent e-mails or left phone messages to ask questions about Ayers’ public lecture, the majority were hostile attacks, Rios said.
“Almost everyone used the word ‘terrorist,’” he recalled. “They also included references to Hitler, al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, Charles Manson and (Lynette) Squeaky Fromme. It was incredible.”
In the e-mails and phone messages, Rios said people attacked him personally, as well as the dean of the College of Education, the board of trustees and UW President Tom Buchanan.
“They were difficult to read and to listen to,” Rios admitted.
With the public debate spinning out of control, Rios said he realized Ayers’ visit had turned into something other than being about social justice in education.
“I soon realized that this talk was no longer about social inequality in schooling,” he said. “I began to fear that an intellectual exchange … and a constructive dialogue undertaken in a climate of respect would not be possible.”
Rios said the threats of violence he and the SJRC had received presented a danger to the UW Lab School students, who would have been in the building rehearsing for a performance at the same time as Ayers’ public lecture in the auditorium.
One audience member, UW Veterinary Science professor Donal O’Toole, said the threats had included the bombing of the College of Education building.
“I felt that putting them in harm’s way was too much to ask,” Rios said.
The atmosphere was so heated Rios said UW Police Chief Troy Lane had told him they had ordered bomb-sniffing dogs to be in the College of Education Auditorium before and during Ayers’ public lecture.
In addition, the Office of Homeland Security had been contacted due to the threats of violence, Rios said.
University of Wyoming student activist Meg Lanker is working with a Denver attorney to bring Ayers to the University of Wyoming later this month. She is very courageously and publicly fighting for the free exchange of ideas. I saw one comment in the Casper Star Tribune suggesting that Ms. Lanker was in need of a good spanking. Future updates on Ms. Lanker's efforts are likely to be found here, and here. If you're in the mood to question the evolutionary fitness of our species, skim some comments on the Ayers-related articles.
Underlying the entire discussion is the painful history of social justice in Wyoming. Ayers gives an unfortunate example:
A particularly despicable note from [name redacted by Anthropologist Underground] who lives in Cheyenne and is active in the Wyoming Patriot Alliance, said, "Maybe someone could take him out and show him the Matthew Sheppard (sic) Commerative (sic) Fence and he could bless it or something." He was referring to Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was tortured and murdered in 1998, left to die tied to a storm fence outside Laramie.
I can't understand how suppressing freedoms gets conflated with patriotism. In my opinion, censoring free speech is in direct opposition to the founding principles of our country. I'm hopeful that Ms. Lanker will be successful in her effort to find a venue and bring Ayers to the University of Wyoming. Ayers himself beautifully states the importance of free speech and free thought:
I can't understand how suppressing freedoms gets conflated with patriotism. In my opinion, censoring free speech is in direct opposition to the founding principles of our country. I'm hopeful that Ms. Lanker will be successful in her effort to find a venue and bring Ayers to the University of Wyoming. Ayers himself beautifully states the importance of free speech and free thought:
This is surely in play today: the right to talk to whomever you please, the right to read and wonder, the right to pursue an argument into uncharted spaces, the right to challenge the state or the church and its orthodoxy in the public square. The right to think at all.
Update----------------
In the last couple of days the Laramie, Wyoming newspaper, Laramie Boomerang, published a refreshingly reasonable Editorial. Here's an excerpt:
But maybe the most disappointing aspect of this whole controversy was the willingness of the university to cancel a planned event because of threats. Ayers and whether he speaks or not isn’t the issue for most of us. Bullies and those who use threats in an attempt to get their way should never be allowed to win.
No institution or business can afford to be intimidated by threats of lawsuits, financial sanctions or, especially, violence. That doesn’t mean that errors in judgment or execution shouldn’t be corrected as needed. Doing what’s right should always take precedence over other concerns. But those changes or corrections should never come as a result of giving in to threats.
When an individual or organization gives into this kind of intimidation, it just encourages others to adopt the same tactics. We realize that the university has a responsibility to assure the safety and security of students, staff, visitors and faculty on the campus. But canceling events because of some demented threats doesn’t accomplish that.
No institution or business can afford to be intimidated by threats of lawsuits, financial sanctions or, especially, violence. That doesn’t mean that errors in judgment or execution shouldn’t be corrected as needed. Doing what’s right should always take precedence over other concerns. But those changes or corrections should never come as a result of giving in to threats.
When an individual or organization gives into this kind of intimidation, it just encourages others to adopt the same tactics. We realize that the university has a responsibility to assure the safety and security of students, staff, visitors and faculty on the campus. But canceling events because of some demented threats doesn’t accomplish that.
Exactly.
Also, for those of you who live in or near Laramie, Wyoming, a rally is scheduled for Thursday, 4.22. Details are here.
There's also an interesting section in the rally article about faculty and staff at the University of Wyoming who fear losing their jobs if they publicly support freedom of speech. In my opinion, that's a disgraceful abuse of power. What a shame.
UPDATE 4.27
UPDATE 4.27
US Dist. Court Judge William Downes has ruled that the University of Wyoming must allow William Ayers to speak:
Downes cited a four-part test in his decision, ruling that Ayers's free speech had been violated, that the university's decision to bar him would cause irreparable harm, that his speech would be in the public interest, and that he can speak in the campus's multipurpose gym. Although he said it's unclear if the gym is a designated free speech area or a limited public forum, he determined that the point is moot because the school has no written policy establishing its status.
Regarding the security concerns, Downes said, "These fears were based on, at best, veiled or indirect threats and apprehension" -- calling it a "heckler's veto." He stressed that "fear is not enough to override the First Amendment."
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Nikki Stern
Greg Correll
Amanda Gulledge
marytkelly
Indiana_Joe
Lainey
Salon.com
Comments