EMAIL US A NEWS TIP
Courier Online is updated twice each week every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. For the latest full content, you can purchase the Claremont Courier newspaper for 75 cents, or subscribe by calling (909) 621-4761.
Ayers rouses emotions while calling students to action The appearance of 1960s anti-war activist and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) professor Bill Ayers sparked differing emotions from a crowd packed into the multipurpose room of Pitzer College's Gold Student Center on Monday night. The latest event in the college's Dining With Democracy series afforded Mr. Ayers the chance to speak for 90 minutes on issues such as the recent presidential election, civil rights, educational reform and activism. One of the key themes of his speech was a call for people to take action and responsibility for making change within the country. “You have to act,” Mr. Ayers said. “How you act, I don't know. You have to act. You have to stand up and be heard in the public square. And what that means is that it's not enough to think I'm a good person sitting happily on my couch in my dorm room, or smoking a joint and talking to my friends. It's not good enough. It might be good but it's not good enough.” The co-founder of the radical Weather Underground group and a leader within the Students for a Democratic Society organization during the 1960s, Mr. Ayers was involved in the anti-war movement for the Vietnam War. The Weather Underground was responsible for bombings on the New York City Police Department headquarters, the U.S. Capital building and the Pentagon during the early 1970s. Mr. Ayers was part of a controversy in the recent presidential election due to reports on a past connection between he and current U.S. President Barack Obama. The activist said the news reports surprised him and doesn't agree with people who characterize him based solely on his involvement with the Weather Underground. “I never think of myself that way but I think if you were to ask my granddaughter, she would say, 'I don't know what you're talking about,'” Mr. Ayers said to the audience. “I'm almost 65 years old so I'm still a work in progress as you are.”
Since his days as a significant figure in the anti-war movement of the 1960s, Mr. Ayers has been an advocate for social justice, democracy and education. The educational reformer is the founder of the Small Schools Workshop and the Center for Youth and Society. Yet his past was a topic of interest for some of the people in attendance. During the question and answer session following Mr. Ayer's speech, California State University, Long Beach chemistry professor Tom Gufrey, questioned the activist regarding his remorse for his “vile acts of traitorous terrorism” and if he felt “morally compelled” to do so. “I believe he is abusing his freedom,” said Tom Gufrey, a chemistry professor at California State University, Long Beach. “He was anti-American in how he spoke and didn't take the time to point out the good things about America. He avoided my question as well. For him to do what he did [during the 1960s] was unacceptable. Now for somebody like Malcom X, to stand up against injustice the way he did is more acceptable because when you look at how poorly our black brothers and sisters were treated, they had a right to do what they did.” Pitzer College graduate Frederick Beebe said he was disappointed when Mr. Ayers did not directly answer the question about his past and feels a direct answer could have provided a deeper understanding his actions. “I was miffed and put off by the way he answered the question,” Mr. Beebe said. “He steered away from the question by talking about whether the Viet Nam War was good or bad. It was a question that he missed out on and one he should have answered [directly]. People want to know how he feels about what he did and his views on how far you go before it's considered to be crossing the line.” While Mr. Gufrey didn't agree with most of Mr. Ayers' ideas—including the educational reformer's view on Proposition 8—he did find common ground with him regarding every person having equal rights. “I do agree with him about the treatment of gays but I do not agree with the idea of gay marriage,” Mr. Gufrey said. “Marriage is a unique union designed for a male and female. I do believe though in gay civil rights.” What Pitzer College graduate William Furio took from the event was the need for people to act on their consciences while simultaneously inspiring others to action. “You have to act because if you don't, you will constipate yourself and feel like you should have,” Mr. Furio said. “He's [Ayers] trying to confront the racist, capitalist and classist homogeny that exists in the United States. People are fed up with it. He's is presenting to us a way of assuming leadership and showing us that we can do it.” —Landus Rigsby |
