As three thousand Americans were being murdered on September 11th, 2001, William Ayers was quoted in the New York Times referring to his own terrorist days by saying, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." Those words were hauntingly prescient given the amazing similarities between the 9/11 targets and those of Ayers.
With his fellow Weather Underground terrorists, Ayers was involved in bombing a New York police station in 1970 (the city of the WTC attacks), the U.S. Capitol building (commonly believed to be the target of the failed Flight 93 mission) in 1971, and the Pentagon (struck by American Airlines Flight 77) in 1972. Ayers also bombed a monument to fallen police officers in 1969, and under his leadership saw his terrorist group kill at least one other on-duty cop.
After fleeing the authorities for years, William Ayers was finally arrested and tried for his crimes, but due to a mismanaged technicality in the prosecution of his case by the FBI, Ayers was released. He taunted Americans as he left the courtroom by saying, "Guilty as h***, free as a bird - America is a great country."
Common sense would dictate that such a sordid past would consign Ayers to the fringe of society where he would live out his days in relative insignificance and shame. But common sense does not flourish on left-wing college campuses across America, and so Bill Ayers is now a college professor in Illinois where he is dubiously referred to as an "elementary education theorist."
And as if that isn't bad enough, Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana recently honored the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by inviting this unrepentant terrorist to campus to be part of an educational lecture series. Why? That's a good question that no one at Purdue seems too interested in answering. Officials pitifully told concerned parents and students that Ayers was only there to discuss educational issues.
To Purdue, inviting an admitted terrorist to campus isn't shameful...as long as he talks about something other than terrorism. With that logic, I eagerly anticipate next year's graphic design lecture by Osama bin Laden.
To buy Purdue University's defense that they rolled out the red carpet for this unrepentant terrorist merely for his insightful views on education is pathetically shallow. The notion that there were no other better-qualified candidates in the country to invite is absurd. Obviously then, Purdue chose to invite Ayers either because the coordinators of the lecture series sympathize with his radical views, or they wanted publicity. Either option is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in West Lafayette.
How long are we going to suffer the idiocy of left-wing academia that pretends it is sophisticated to allow radicals, terrorists, and America-hating fools access to the minds of our young people? We can call it tolerance, but it's not. We can call it "opening dialogue," but it's not. We can call it the exchange of ideas, but it's not. It's giving legitimacy to people who should actually be in prison, and lending credibility to their evil, dangerous thoughts.
That Purdue University would invite such a man to campus to participate in an educational lecture series demonstrates the sorry commitment they have to reinforcing positive values to their students. And the fact that Purdue's president and administration were unwilling to step in to stop this abomination speaks volumes about the character and integrity of the university under their leadership.
Less than two weeks after the anniversary of 9/11, Purdue honored a man who says if given the chance, he wouldn't discount the possibility of engaging in terrorism against his own country again. If I had a child going to Purdue, that would tell me all I need to know about what the Boilermakers stand for...and I would be asking for my tuition dollars back.
