Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Support Bill Ayers

Bill Ayers, characterized as a "domestic terrorist, " has been the collateral damage of the Republican attack on Barack Obama. The vicious attacks of the McCain/Palin campaign have wiped away more than 20 years of service to education by Ayers. As a result, a group of educators has rallied in his support, including establishing a site (http://www.supportbillayers.org) where educators can go to sign a statement of support. The statement in part reads:

Ayers is a nationally known scholar, member of the Faculty Senate at UIC, Vice President-elect of the American Educational Research Association, and sought after as a speaker and visiting scholar by other universities because of his exemplary scholarship, teaching, and service. Throughout the 20 years that he has been a valued faculty member at UIC, he has taught, advised, mentored, and supported hundreds of undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D. students. He has pushed them to take seriously their responsibilities as educators in a democracy – to promote critical inquiry, dialogue, and debate; to encourage questioning and independent thinking; to value the full humanity of every person and to work for access and equity. Helping educators develop the capacity and ethical commitment to these responsibilities is at the core of what we do, and as a teacher he has always embraced debate and multiple perspectives.

If you are repelled by "dishonesty of this campaign and the slanderous McCarthyism " you can sign the statement and forward it to your friends.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

here's the link to the support bill ayers website and online petition:
http://www.supportbillayers.org

Ann said...

Thanks - it was linked above, but just by the two words "a site" so it's good to have the actual URL up there.

It makes me very angry that so many people are devoting their attention to Obama, and not defending the "evolved" (as Whoopi Goldberg puts it) Bill Ayers.

Anonymous said...

i think we can help out by spreading the link around so more people can see that over 2,000 folks signed a petition in support of such a 'domestic terrorist'.