Bill Ayers Goes to Campus: Knuckledraggers on Parade!

[Buzz Clik]

Bill Ayers dropped by the Purdue University (Indiana) campus to give a talk on curriculum, and the locals got nervous.

(If you're not familiar with Purdue, it's a Big Ten school with the rare attribute of being a top 10 engineering and top 10 ag school. The first and last men to walk on the moon were Purdue grads. It's a good school, but leans to the right and is in the heart of a political conservative state.)

When Colin Powell came to Purdue to speak, three people protested. In contrast...

Educator Ayers unruffled by protest at Purdue

'70s anti-war activist defends demonstrators' rights

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The controversy surrounding a talk about education Thursday night at Purdue University was not lost on the speaker, Bill Ayers.
But Ayers didn't let protesters upset his lively 90-minute talk and question-and-answer session on school reform.

When a voice amplified by a bullhorn outside could be heard denouncing Ayers inside the Lawson Computer Science Building, Ayers said everyone has a right to voice an opinion.
"They are protesting a cartoon character and not me," said Ayers, distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "And if they were in here, I think they would agree."

The protesters blasted Purdue's bringing to the campus a co-founder of the radical anti-war Weather Underground group in the 1970s. Ayers' connection to President Barack Obama became an issue during the 2008 presidential race.
"It is the role of the university to invite lots and lots of people to speak," Ayers said. "It has nothing to do with endorsing my views or my history or anything of the sort."
Ayers' talk, titled "Inequality and Education: The Challenge for Urban Schools," was punctuated by two major points: that students should be taught to ask questions, and that education is not a commodity.

"We have to build curriculum around one word that challenges every regime, and that is 'Why?' " he said. "Whatever you teach, you teach that you ask questions."
Ayers also warned that strategies that some think will fix education -- such as voucher programs, charter schools, busing -- don't help failing urban schools.

More than 200 people, most of them opponents of Ayers' appearance on campus, positioned themselves outside Lawson Hall for the duration of his talk.

Purdue freshman Daniel Burgin stood near the building's front steps, passing out anti-Ayers fliers.
"I don't think he should be considered a respected scholar at all, and to have him speaking here at Purdue is an outrage," Burgin said.

Less than 10 feet away, Purdue sophomore Grant Champion had a very different opinion.
"I think it's ridiculous that people don't want him here," he said. "I don't agree with his past, but he's in there speaking on a topic that he is educated and well-versed in, and the same people who complain about having their rights taken are trying to do the same to him."

Although tensions were high and a few isolated arguments sprang up, the demonstration was peaceful. Purdue University Police Department officers were positioned in several spots around the building.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909250394

And now, the pictures:


This woman has two daughters at Purdue. God save them.


Classic Indiana knuckledragger. Nice pictures, fatass.


Hey, if it was good enough for Joe Wilson...


The pervasive bullhorns


More bull...


plus horns...(???)


The lecture was closed to the public, so cops were needed to keep the idiots away from the academic discussion. Adults only, doncha know...


The Freepers were there to help keep the average IQ below 90.


The protest at its peak


This teabagger proclaimed that Ayers's presence on campus was unAmerican. I guess he feels that opinion was more relevant in the 18th century...


The throng of protestors. In all fairness, all four corners of this intersection were populated by knuckledraggers.

[rurallib]

1. Some of those protesters ought to put on blackface just so

observers wouldn't claim that it is the same old white guys 'n' gals as always.

[Buzz Clik]

2. They'd have to alert the other protestors first, to avoid a problem.

Indiana's level of racial tolerance is a bit low.

[gratuitous]

3. First picture of "Purdue Mom"

Do you think she's ever ripped one in her entire life?

As for Indiana being a conservative state, I believe they voted for the black man in 2008. May the knuckle-draggers' numbers likewise ever diminish. Probably the first time many of them had ever been on a college campus.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Yes, indeed. It was the first Dem prez we voted for in many, many decades.

The results were so close, we were one of the last states to report. The McCain campaign had no presence where he needed to make inroads, and the Obama group was absolutely electric.

[OswegoAtheist]

5. Not their first time on campus...

...after all, someone had to pull the triggers at Kent State.

Oswego "Tin Soldier contents: contains 1 future Teabagger"

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

6. I can't say anything bad about Indiana

When they didn't call it the minute the polls closed there, I knew McCain was fucking toast.

[madrchsod]

7. it was also closed to 99.9% of the student body

bill wanted to speak to those who had a vested interest in public education. the students were more or less selected by their professors.

[Buzz Clik]

10. Yepper! He was the annual lecturer in a privately-funded series.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090922/NEWS04/909220368/1001/NEWS

There were 100 seats in the venue.

I've never understood the reaction to speakers on college campuses. People are always shocked when someone controversial shows up.

[Javaman]

8. Meh, like a sieve of stupidity, their numbers are dwindling...

they reached their "high water mark" with 60k on sept 12th.

It's now condensed down now to only the pure unadulterated stupid.

They had their day in the sun during the recess and perhaps we may see and anemic version of them rise again during the winter recess, but frankly, I think their "large" turn outs are a think of the past.

[Jim__]

9. The sign that says "Ayers is a suspect in the murder of a SF police officer..."

Never mind. I found the info.

[Buzz Clik]

11. Yeah, but it's more stupidity.

S.F. police union accuses Ayers in 1970 bombing

Thursday, March 12, 2009


(03-11) 17:50 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Leaders of San Francisco's police officers union have accused Weather Underground co-founder Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, of taking part in the 1970 bombing of a city police station that killed a sergeant.

The union leveled the charge in a letter to a conservative organization lobbying for arrests in the case, but said it had not been in contact with investigators and had no new evidence related to the bombing, which killed Sgt. Brian McDonnell.

--- more --- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/11/BATK16DHA4.DTL&tsp=1

It's some members of the police union making an accusation in a letter to a conservative group with no evidence to back their charge.

It never ends.

[Jim__]

12. Thanks. My recollection is that the Weathermen bombed buildings but called in warnings.

An anti-personnel bomb doesn't seem to fit their profile.

[Buzz Clik]

13. Of course not. But that doesn't stop the repeating of baseless claims.

One of the Ayers protestors was complaining about taxpayer monies being used to pay Ayers. Ayers cost the university nothing. The only cost to the taxpayers were the cops who were called in to control the protestors, which I find amusing and a tad ironic.