The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Faculty Senate spent its Tuesday meeting talking about last year's canceled William Ayers speech and embryonic stem cell research.
Wes Peterson, professor of agricultural economics, presented a report about Ayers that said the canceling of Ayers' visit constituted a violation of academic freedom. Peterson said UNL was subjected to outside pressure, which made the issue even more difficult.
"This was a successful heckler's veto," Peterson said. "It prevented a legitimate academic event from taking place. This is a textbook example of academic freedoms being violated."
Peterson said the threat of violence if Ayers came to UNL weighed too heavily on the decision to cancel the speech.
"We need to balance the need for action with deliberation and faculty insight," he said.
Some Faculty Senate members took offense to the wording of the report, which mentioned several politicians' views. Chemistry professor Gerard Harbison said the report showed a fairly liberal bias.
"There is gratuitous Republican-bashing in this report," Harbison said.
Kathy Prochaska-Cue, an associate professor of child, youth and family studies, disagreed, saying the politics surrounding the issue clouded what was really at stake.
"It's unfortunate that this is so politically charged," Prochaska-Cue said. "The basis of this issue is academic freedom, which was definitely violated."
Harbison said UNL was not the first university to rescind an invitation to Ayers. He also said Ayers bragged about his work in the terrorism group the Weathermen, a sign, Harbison said, that Ayers was not fit to speak at UNL.
Another faculty member who worked on the Ayers report, Miles Bryant, a professor of educational administration, said the reason for the report was not to investigate Ayers, but to look at why he was asked not to speak.
"Our effort isn't to look at Ayers' career," Bryant said. "We're more concerned about a man invited by the faculty to talk about content relevant to the faculty. He was uninvited, and we investigated whether that was a violation of academic freedom."
Finance professor Tom Zorn said all the controversy surrounding Ayers boiled down to the faculty's decision to invite him in the first place.
"Does the faculty have a right to invite speakers to campus? Yes," Zorn said. "All the rest is gratuitous."
At the meeting, the senate also voted on a resolution to ask the Board of Regents to continue its policy of compliance with federal regulations regarding stem cell research.
John Fech, Southeast Research and Extension Center educator and senate president, said the resolution is anticipating changes in federal legislation, an issue that might come up at the next Board of Regents meeting.
"It is somewhat speculative, but we think there's a high probability the Board of Regents will have to look at this issue," Fech said.
The resolution passed 38-7 with one abstention.
macbarber@dailynebraskan.com
is a member of the 
6 comments
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Horowitz Speech Rejected by SLU · 01 October 2009
By Kelley Dunn - The University News (SLU) Author and activist David Horowitz was invited to speak at Saint Louis University by the SLU College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation on Oct. 13. SLU officials, however, had problems with the subject matter of Horowitz’s proposed speech, entitled “An Evening with David Horowitz: Islamo-Fascism Awareness and Civil Rights.”“For me, it was … the content,” Dean of Students Scott Smith said. “Particularly, the blanketed use of the term Islamo-Fascism.”
-----------------------------------------As a moderate, I wouldn't want my tax dollars wasted on Ayers or Horowitz, though I have no problem with them going to yap at the universities on their own nickel. I'd rather have tax dollars delegated to intelligent discussion.By the way, you may want to look in the archives for Prof. Harbison's columns on Ayers. You might find he strongly supports freedom of speech.