DENVER—William Ayers, the Chicago professor whose radical past made him a lightning rod in the 2008 presidential campaign, says fired Colorado professor Ward Churchill was the victim of a “witch hunt.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind he was persecuted because of his politics,” Ayers said Thursday before appearing with Churchill at a student-sponsored forum on academic freedom on the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus.
Churchill was a tenured professor of ethnic studies at the university when he ignited a firestorm by likening some victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to Nazi Adolf Eichmann.
The university fired him in 2007 on plagiarism allegations after an investigation that began amid the furor over the Eichmann comment.
Three committees of faculty members from Colorado and other universities accused Churchill of plagiarism, fabrication and other research misconduct. Churchill denies the allegations and filed suit to get his job back. The lawsuit goes to trial next week.
University spokesman Bronson Hilliard called Ayers’ allegation “absolute nonsense.” He said Churchill was fired because of proven research misconduct, not his statements.
Ayers was a co-founder of the radical anti-Vietnam war group Weather Underground, which claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, including explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol that didn’t kill anyone.
He was a fugitive for years, surrendering in 1980. Charges against him were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.
Republicans made Ayers an issue in the presidential campaign last year because he had a limited association with Barack Obama. GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists.”
He is now an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago and an outspoken critic of what he calls a pattern of intimidation of professors.
“Again and again we have political leaders who weigh in on what’s appropriate to teach and who’s appropriate to teach,” Ayers said Thursday.
He cited the University of Nebraska’s decision to cancel his scheduled appearance at the Lincoln campus last fall after criticism from Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman.
“Now we have the University of Nebraska, a great university, bowing to the whims of a political leader. Is that where we’re heading, is the university a fiefdom of the governor? That’s a little frightening.”
University officials said they canceled Ayers because of security concerns, not pressure from Heineman. Heineman’s spokeswoman said Ayers’ allegation was not new and she declined to respond to it Thursday.
Security concerns briefly threatened to embroil Ayers’ appearance at the University of Colorado when Students for True Academic Freedom, one of the sponsors, balked at a $3,000 university fee for security.
An attorney for the students threatened to take court action against the university, calling the fee exorbitant and an unconstitutional restraint on free speech. That threat was dropped when the university said it wasn’t asking for the money upfront.
Hilliard, the university spokesman, said Thursday the fee is standard for any event requiring security and that the university still expects to be paid.
Writer-activist Derrick Jensen is also scheduled to appear with Ayers and Churchill at the event, titled, “Forbidden Education and the Rise of Neo-McCarthyism.”
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