Bill Ayers, self-proclaimed anarchist, Marxist, and unrepentant terrorist, has supporters.
Dear friends and colleagues in the field of education,
It seems that the character assassination and slander of Bill Ayers and other people who have known Obama is not about to let up. While an important concern is the dishonesty of this campaign and the slanderous McCarthyism they are using to attack Obama, we also feel an obligation to support our friend and colleague Bill Ayers. Many, many educators have reached out, asking what they could do, seeking a way to weigh in against fear and intimidation. Many of us have been talking and we agree that this one gesture, a joint statement signed by hundreds of hard-working educators, would be a great first step. Such a statement may be distributed through press releases or ads in the future.
Please click on ENDORSE THIS STATEMENT in order to sign the following statement in support of Bill Ayers and, just as importantly, FORWARD it to other friends and colleagues who would like to stand up against these attacks. (*Title/Affiliation will be listed for identification purposes only. Please be assured that we have no intention of using your name for any other purpose than beneath the words on this page.)
Thank you!
Friends and supporters of Bill Ayers
________________
EDUCATOR STATEMENT - 3247 Current Endorsements -
We write to support our colleague Professor William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who is currently under determined and sustained political attack. Ayers is a nationally known scholar, member of the Faculty Senate at UIC, Vice President-elect of the American Educational Research Association, and sought after as a speaker and visiting scholar by other universities because of his exemplary scholarship, teaching, and service. Throughout the 20 years that he has been a valued faculty member at UIC, he has taught, advised, mentored, and supported hundreds of undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D. students. He has pushed them to take seriously their responsibilities as educators in a democracy – to promote critical inquiry, dialogue, and debate; to encourage questioning and independent thinking; to value the full humanity of every person and to work for access and equity. Helping educators develop the capacity and ethical commitment to these responsibilities is at the core of what we do, and as a teacher he has always embraced debate and multiple perspectives.
All citizens, but particularly teachers and scholars, are called upon to challenge orthodoxy, dogma, and mindless complacency, to be skeptical of authoritative claims, to interrogate and trouble the given and the taken-for-granted. Without critical dialogue and dissent we would likely be burning witches and enslaving our fellow human beings to this day. The growth of knowledge, insight, and understanding--- the possibility of change--- depends on that kind of effort, and the inevitable clash of ideas that follows should be celebrated and nourished rather than crushed. Teachers have a heavy responsibility, a moral obligation, to organize classrooms as sites of open discussion, free of coercion or intimidation. By all accounts Professor Ayers meets this standard. His classes are fully enrolled, and students welcome the exchange of views that he encourages.
The current characterizations of Professor Ayers---“unrepentant terrorist,” “lunatic leftist”---are unrecognizable to those who know or work with him. It’s true that Professor Ayers participated passionately in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, as did hundreds of thousands of Americans. His participation in political activity 40 years ago is history; what is most relevant now is his continued engagement in progressive causes, and his exemplary contribution---including publishing 16 books--- to the field of education. The current attacks appear as part of a pattern of “exposés” and assaults designed to intimidate free thinking and stifle critical dialogue. Like crusades against high school and elementary teachers, and faculty at UCLA, Columbia, DePaul, and the University of Colorado, the attacks on and the character assassination of Ayers threaten the university as a space of open inquiry and debate, and threaten schools as places of compassion, imagination, curiosity, and free thought. They serve as warnings that anyone who voices perspectives and advances questions that challenge orthodoxy and political power may become a target, and this, then, casts a chill over free speech and inquiry and the spirit of democracy.
We, the undersigned, stand on the side of education as an enterprise devoted to human inquiry, enlightenment, and liberation. We oppose the demonization of Professor William Ayers.
Read the list of Ayers supporters.
Wisconsin is represented, including:
Gloria Ladson-Billings - University of Wisconsin
Rene Antrop-Gonzalez, Ph.D. - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Ken Zeichner - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Taina R. Collazo-Quiles - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Brian W. Lagotte - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Katy Swalwell - MEPD Graduate Faculty, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse
Jen Scott Curwood - University of Wisconsin
Mary Thompson-Shriver - University of Wisconsin
Katherina A. Payne - University of Wisconsin
Ross Colin - The University of Wisconsin-Madison
Andrew Clement - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Vonzell Agosto - University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Matthew Knoester - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Donna L. Vukelich - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Kerry Kretchmar - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dale Weiss - First grade teacher, La Escuela Fratney (Milwaukee, WI)
Madeline Hafner - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thandeka K. Chapman - UW Milwaukee
Jenny Peshut - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Margaret Phinney - University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Jack Winters - Marquette University
Daniel Ginsberg-Jaeckle - SDS-Milwaukee
Evelin Rodriguez - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Rhea Vedro - University of WI - Madison
Gary Greif - University of Wisconsin--Green Bay
Patricia S. Merrill - Milwaukee Area Technical College
Beth Handler - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Margaret Finders - University of Wisconsin La Crosse
Mary Louise Gomez - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Diana Hess - University of WI-Madison
Simone Schweber - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Beth Graue - University of Wisconsin Madison
Dawnene D. Hassett, Ph.D. - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Beth Robinson - Univeristy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Julie Mead - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Julio Guerrero - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Constance Steinkuehler - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Nancy Ruggeri - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Douglas B. Larkin - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sharon L. Morrow - University of Wisconsin - Madison
Sarah McKinney - University of Wisconsin-Madison, doctoral student
Doreen Adamany - University of Wisconsin
Selena Kohel - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ricardo D. Rosa - University of Wisconsin
Manali Sheth - UW Madison, former teacher
Elizabeth A. Hutchinson - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bethany Brent - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Julie Minikel-Lacocque - UW-Madison
Sarah Adumat - UW Madison
Bruce E. Gladstone - University of Wisconsin
Joyce Shanks - University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Finn Ryan - University of Wisconsin, Madison
Wangari Gichiru - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Laurel Blomquist - Madison Area Technical College
Laura Faith Hetland - UW-Milwaukee, SDS, mNSC
Jacob Flom - University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - Progressive Students
Bonnie Paris - University of Wisconsin - Madison
Kurt D. Squire - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Julie Tenpas - UW-Milwaukee
April Goodwin - University of Wisconsin
Thomas Jasen Gardner - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Courtney Koestler - University of Wisconsin- Madison
Kyung Eun Jahng - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sharon Chubbuck - Marquette University
Margot Kennard - University of Wisconsin-Madison
It's interesting that these thousands are troubled by the "determined and sustained political attack" of Bill Ayers.
They believe:
The current attacks appear as part of a pattern of “exposés” and assaults designed to intimidate free thinking and stifle critical dialogue. Like crusades against high school and elementary teachers, and faculty at UCLA, Columbia, DePaul, and the University of Colorado, the attacks on and the character assassination of Ayers threaten the university as a space of open inquiry and debate, and threaten schools as places of compassion, imagination, curiosity, and free thought. They serve as warnings that anyone who voices perspectives and advances questions that challenge orthodoxy and political power may become a target, and this, then, casts a chill over free speech and inquiry and the spirit of democracy.
If they're consistent, I assume they're horrified at the heavy-handed tactics employed by Barack Obama and his campaign to silence the critics of Obama.
Of course, they aren't consistent. They're hypocrites.
_______________
Marquette Warrior has more on Ayers supporter Jack Winters, Marquette University Professor of Biomedical Engineering.
John McAdams writes:
But why does Ayers need support? Apparently because people are saying bad things about him. He is in no danger of being fired from his tenured position. He is in no danger of being locked up (although he should have been locked up years ago for his terrorist activities).
Rather, people are criticizing him.
That, some leftist professors think, is an attack on academic freedom.
This from a class of people who feel free to launch any attack they want on anybody and everybody they dislike.
McAdams links to Winters' personal web page and notes the Left-leaning organizations that Winters supports.
Winters lists MoveOn and People for the American Way as "good groups."
I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that Winters will not be voting for John McCain.
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