This past weekend, the Young Conservatives of Texas at A&M discovered that several A&M professors and graduate assistants signed a petition in support of the former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers. This comes just two days after Ayers appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America in his first sit down interview since being connected with President-Elect Barack Obama. YCT is posting the above flier around campus this week to inform students of these professors’ endorsement of Ayers.
William Ayers is responsible for bombing the New York City Police Headquarters, the U.S. Capitol Building, and the Pentagon. William Ayers seriously contemplated the deaths of 25 million Americans.
“I don’t regret setting bombs, said Ayers in 2001 to the NY Times, ”I feel we didn’t do enough.” He stood by this statement on Good Morning America. Moreover, in his latest book Fugitive Days (2001), Ayers reflects on whether or not he might use bombs against the U.S. in the future: “I can’t imagine entirely dismissing the possibility,” he writes on page 285
“Terrorists intimidate, while we aimed only to educate,” he wrote in Fugitive Days on page 263. And now Ayers is a university professor of education?!
For more information on William Ayers, click here.
The professors signing the endorsement include Patrick Slattery, Professor of Teaching, Learning, and Culture; Kathryn Bell McKenzie, Assistant Professor of Education Administration and Human Resource Development; Marian Eide, Associate Professor of English; Kimberly Brown, Associate Professor of English and Director of Africana Studies. Professor Brown was the keynote speaker of the 2008 Freshman Convocation. Is Ayers what she had in mind when she encouraged students to study “the history of student protest”? Professor Slattery calls himself a “very close personal friend” of Ayers and “in regular communication with him.”
The A&M student body, former students, and Bryan-College Station community should be very concerned about A&M professors supporting a radical like Ayers. These professors need to explain this endorsement.
Do they approve of Ayers’ violent past? Do they approve of his ongoing agenda to indoctrinate school children with leftist propaganda, to teach them to hate our country? Are violent bombings, mass genocide, and communist revolution the kind of “education” we should be teaching American children in schools?
As of this writing, these professors have yet to answer these questions.
As a life long conservative (Voted Dole, Bush, Bush, Barr) I must say this stunt is highly offensive. Perhaps a better way to engage these professors would be an open forum, debate, or some other “classy” means of opening dialog.
YCT contacted each of the professors by email. Only one responded and yet he declined to answer any of the questions we posed to all of them.
If they are not willing to answer questions posed by email, it is doubtful they will agree to any public forum or dialogue. They have also declined to speak to the local TV station that did a story on this issue.
That these individuals did not respond to an email is not surprising, considering that they are incredibly busy providing the socialized education from which YCT benefit. Unlike the YCT, they are far too busy being gainfully employed and furthering scholarly activity to participate in publicity stunts.
That YCT merely sent emails is also indicative of their immaturity. Each of these individuals has posted office hours and a telephone number in the university directory. Had any member of YCT truly wished to engage in thoughtful dialogue, the opportunity to do so face-to-face existed.
The disadvantage, of course, would have been that there would not have been a crowd of gawkers to shake their heads.
If someone can tell me that one American died to protect our Freedom from a country that possessed little more than bamboo capabilities, I will say that Vietnam was a good war. Vietnam: JFK; Slavery: Lincoln. People forget that Lincoln had slaves, and Kennedy initiated preliminary conflicts in Vietnam. Assassination brought bright memories, but what The Weathermen did harmed no one. Selma, Kent St., Montgomery, Medgar Evers, College draft exclusion, Little Rock 9, Strom Thurmond’s 50 years of hypocracy, McCarthism, 1789-1965. Thomas Jefferson harmed more people than William Ayers. Regardless if he loved his slaves; they were his slaves. To rationalize actions because of the times means that peophilia was okay in ancient Greece. There is no picking and choosing. There is only right and wrong, and to close:
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” a nice quoute from bill ayers….i’m sorry i mistyped…Thomas Jefferson
The Weather Underground was responsible for dozens of bombings resulting in massive property damage and numerous injuries and deaths.
William Ayers bombed the New York Police Department headquarters, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. One bomb, outfitted with nails to do maximum human damage, was intended to be detonated at a dance at Fort Dix to kill servicemen and their dates. Another bomb intended for the Detroit Police Officers’ Association had fence staples in it to achieve the desired shrapnel effect.
No harm? Give me a break. Only reason they didn’t kill and injure more is because of their own incompetence and FBI infiltration.
Ayers explained the purpose of the Weather Underground thus: “Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at.”
How can anyone believe that Ayers was just another anti-war hippie protester rather than a vicious domestic terrorist? Even Barack Obama has said that Ayers “engaged in despicable acts.”
The only reason Ayers is in academia today instead of a prison cell is because of a legal technicality and the dominance of the political left in many colleges and universities across the country.
Ayers has no regrets about his past violence. He told National Public Radio, “If I had something specific to think about apologizing for, I might.” He could not think of a single thing.
With regard to Vietnam, I direct your attention to the following link: http://conservativecolloquium.wordpress.com/category/government-and-politcs/vietnam-war/
Public funding of education is a special case because the educating of others actually can have a public benefit for everyone, depending on the degree (there is a reason agriculture & mechanical were the focus at first). It really can be more than a zero sum game, an investment in future productivity and prosperity for society, unlike welfare state programs. However, public administration of education often leads to all sorts of inefficiencies and heartaches. Also, let’s not forget that A&M is more precisely a publicly-assisted institution now because of a heavy reliance on former students’ generosity.
There are several students in YCT who hold jobs to help pay for their education and living expenses. Considering what some professors publish and teach at A&M (Marxist, postmodern, and racialist trash), these students are much more “gainfully employed” than many of the professors. It is not like students are twiddling their thumbs while faculty are doing all the work.
Our aim was to inform the A&M community and make the professors answerable to that community. And we were largely successful. However, many still do not know the facts about the Weather Underground and William Ayers’ views, largely because the Batt declined to publish YCT’s own guest column setting the record straight.
I really don’t understand what these professors supporting another tenured professor has anything to do with anything. They didn’t respond to your e-mails because, well, you’re a bunch of kids trying to create publicity stunts. They don’t and shouldn’t have to waste their time with kids like you. They don’t have anything to answer for unless it is relevant to their jobs. What are you guys going to accuse them of being communist until they name other communists and salute the flag? They have first amendment rights just like you, so criticize them if you want, but don’t claim that they have to answer to anyone because they expressed an opinion, and they did it in a private, and not a stupid public stunt that is only going to make people upset. The YCT has done a lot of stupid public demonstrations the past few years, they should be careful or I would imagine that the University might be tempted to revoke their funding as a student organization based on, what I’m sure is, numerous complaints against your group. Barack Obama is your President in a few days, and there are a lot of people that like and respect him, if you are trying to get a message across, don’t do it in a way that immediately makes people angry. I would recommend a good Communication class so you can learn a few things.
Professors shape and mold the mind of future generations of Americans. With that power comes responsibility. Their support for William Ayers shows that these professors are abusing that power. All we asked was why they support an unrepentant terrorist who does not reject violence. They will not answer and face the facts of who Bill Ayers was and continues to be.
Moreover, taxpayer money partially funds these professors. So I think Texans have a right to know how their money is being abused.
I understand the concern for domestic terrorism and the YCT’s disagreement with the tactics of Weathermen like Ayers, but the representation of your group has become pseudo-revolutionary by quoting the founding fathers, flying ‘Don’t Tread On Me” flags, and connecting the resentment of taxation with the Boston Tea Party. In the course of violent rebellion against what they perceived as tyranny, our forefathers committed acts of what can objectively labeled ‘domestic terrorism’ which included acts of violence both against the military authority and innocent civilians. Ironically, your group denounces the philosophy of William Ayers and groups like the Weathermen and the Black Panther Party because they used violence or intimidation for ‘leftist’ purposes while you blatantly emulate and advocate the use of violence and intimidation when it serves to further the ideological purposes of conservatives. With such a fundamental contradiction in the group’s stance, it’s obvious and apparent that not only is your platform on this issue devoid of any valid argument on public policy, it is painfully obvious that it serves to cue partisan response instead of thoughtful debate.