After reading that University faculty members signed an online petition supporting Bill Ayers (“More than 3,000 professors back Ayers petition,” Oct. 24). I am left with two thoughts.
First, if Smardon and Hale are going to justify their decision to support Ayers by claiming that they are focusing on Ayers contemporary achievements rather than “what he did when he was young,” they may want to reevaluate just how different the Bill Ayers of today truly is. For example, this is the same man who, in August of 2001, was photographed standing on an American flag for a Chicago Magazine feature entitled “No Regrets.” The same man who in a Sept. 2001 interview said, “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” The same man who, in the 2004 documentary “The Weather Underground,” claims that his behavior back then “still makes sense to [him].” Even if, as these members of the University community claim, Ayers has made a great contribution to the field of early childhood education, I am reminded of an old saying about a leopard and its spots.
Second, to those suggesting that Sen. Obama’s history with Ayers is much ado about nothing, which scenario do you find preferable: A) neither Sen. Obama nor anyone on his staff at that time knew who Bill Ayers was, and apparently made no effort to conduct even the most cursory background check on someone they were about to attach their campaign to; or B) they knew exactly who Bill Ayers was and chose to involve themselves with him anyway?
Clay Hansen
LAW ‘11
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