Bill Ayers denied "emeritus" status by U-IL-Chicago

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-ayers-denied-emeritus-20100923,0,5045265.story

Controversial UIC professor denied emeritus status

Son of Robert Kennedy speaks out against Ayers

Jodi S. Cohen, Tribune reporter

2010/09/24 12:36 CDT

[imghttp://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2010-09/56331992.jpg[/img]

University of Illinois at Chicago professor William Ayers was denied emeritus status Thursday by University of Illinois trustees meeting in Urbana.

n a very unusual move, University of Illinois trustees Thursday denied giving emeritus status to controversial retired professor William Ayers.

The vote, at a U. of I. board meeting in Urbana, was unanimous and came after a passionate speech by board chair Christopher Kennedy, who invoked the 1968 assassination of his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, in saying that he was voting his conscience.

The other trustees, without comment, also voted against the appointment.

Ayers, the Vietnam War-era radical, had been an education faculty member at UIC since 1987. He retired effective Aug. 31 and then sought the emeritus faculty status, a largely honorific title that includes some benefits such as library privileges.

A co-founder of the Weather Underground anti-war group, Ayers was frequently in the media spotlight and, as such, was one of the university's best-known faculty members.

While trustees regularly vote on emeritus appointments, they rarely comment about them.

But in an emotional statement, Kennedy discussed his reasons for voting against Ayers' request.

"I am guided by my conscience and one which has been formed by a series of experiences, many of which have been shared with the people of our country and mark each of us in a profound way," Kennedy said.

He said he could not confer the title "to a man whose body of work includes a book dedicated in part to the man who murdered my father."

Kennedy was referring to a 1974 book co-authored by Ayers, "Prairie Fire," which was dedicated to a long list of people including Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan and "all political prisoners in the U.S."

Ayers became a controversial figure in Barack Obama's presidential campaign because they worked on a school-reform initiative together, leading opponents to say Obama was linked to a "terrorist." UIC was forced to release more than 1,000 files detailing the activities of that group. The university also faced questions in 2001 after Ayers wrote in his memoir about helping with the non-fatal bombings of government buildings.

According to the UIC faculty handbook, the granting of emeritus status is "based on merit" and is "an extraordinary title that is given for extraordinary service."

Kennedy said he hoped faculty, staff and Illinois residents "understand my motives and my reasoning" and concluded: "How could I do anything else?"

Ayers could not be reached for comment, and UIC School of Education Dean Vicki Chou did not return a call from the Tribune. She told the Tribune last month that Ayers has "been really a very good colleague here" and "the good far outweighs any negative press."

A UIC professor said Friday she was "shocked" by the trustees' decision not to grant Ayers emeritus status.

"Professor Ayers has a 47-page resume of academic accomplishments," Barbara Ransby, a professor of history and African-American studies, wrote in an e-mail response to the Tribune. "I am sure his publication and service record far exceeds that of many of our retired colleagues who have been granted emeritus status by the University in the past."

Ransby, who has publicly supported Ayers in the past, said decisions are supposed to be based on "academic merit."

"It is a real threat to academic freedom, and the foundation of a democratic university, when we begin to make professional and institutional decisions based on personal or political sentiments, however strongly felt they may be," she wrote.

At least UIC belatedly developed enough "stones" to stand up to BH0--by denying his mentor privileges!

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Anyone with any idea of how academic politics work knows that although merit is the key point to reaching named positions and top-professor appointments, it is not the only one. I understand the issue why Kennedy opposed Ayers' appointment based on these obviously painful personal reasons. Ayers may be an EXCELLENT professor, with an EXCELLENT academically meritorious track record, having made many a contributions to the development of educational philosophy since his days playing rich kid by day, domestic terrorist by night... but these days one needs to make amends with one's past in order to receive the laurels available to one's path.

Interestingly, there is that Harvard prof that just got awarded by her university even after having said clearly bigoted things.

The rest is the usual bitterness towards the President, done in unsurprising fashion.