Bill Ayers, co-founder of the radical anti-war Weather Underground protest group, is coming to Purdue University on Sept. 24 to participate in an educational forum.
Ayers, 64, is a distinguished professor of education and senior university scholar at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He will speak on "Inequality and Education: The Challenge for Urban Schools" at the inaugural Cummings-Perrucci Annual Lecture on Class, Race and Gender Equality.
In the early 1970s, Ayers and other Weathermen opposed the war in Vietnam, sometimes by highly publicized bombings of public buildings. Evacuation notices were issued prior to the explosions, and no members of the public were harmed.
In 2008, Ayers became a focal point in Democratic candidate Barack Obama's presidential campaign because of Ayers' radical past and his friendship with Obama.
Ayers, who was named Chicago's Citizen of the Year in 1997, still stirs controversy. Some Lafayette area residents are organizing to protest his appearance.
"I'm not against anyone having free speech, but I think there is a difference between someone speaking politically and somebody who is a terrorist," said Jared Fagan, director of the Citizens in Action group.
"I was shocked when I heard about him coming to Purdue."
Citizens in Action has organized several local health forum town hall meetings and "tea party" protests. On Wednesday, the group organized a protest aimed at disrupting a vigil for health care reform at Riehle Plaza downtown.
Calls and e-mail questions to faculty members in the Purdue Department of Sociology were not returned Thursday. Attempts to talk with Ayers in time for this story were not successful.
Harry Targ, a political science professor at Purdue, said it is "foolish to politicize" Ayers appearance at the Purdue event.
"I assume he (Ayers) was invited because of his competency in education," Targ said. "It is unfortunate that people want to protest this.
"If there is any hoopla, it will be extraneous. It was 40 years ago when he did this stuff."
For years, Ayers and other Weathermen were fugitives from the law, although he was never convicted of a crime.
In his book, "Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist," he wrote about the bombings of public buildings in the early 1970s.
Fagan, who called Ayers a "domestic terrorist," said he is working with other local conservative groups to protest the visit.
"Our main objective is for everyone to know what Ayers is all about," Fagan said. "He can talk all about equality, but he wasn't concerned about that when he was blowing up buildings."
