Young Conservatives adviser at Texas A&M quits

Houston Chronicle/AP ^ | Nov. 23, 2008

[SwinneySwitch]

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A faculty adviser for the Texas A&M chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas has resigned, saying he was "ashamed beyond words" when the group posted fliers identifying four professors who signed a petition opposing "demonization" of 1960s radical William Ayers.

John Fike, a professor in engineering technology and industrial engineering, quit the adviser role last week, the Bryan-College Station Eagle reported Sunday.

The national petition asked for support for education "as an enterprise devoted to human inquiry, enlightenment and liberation" and had more than 4,000 signatures. It circulated during the presidential race, when Ayers' acquaintanceship with President-elect Barack Obama became a campaign issue.

Ayers, now a University of Illinois education professor, is a former leader of the Weather Underground.

The fliers quoted Ayers as saying he doesn't regret setting bombs. They included photos of the four Texas A&M professors with the words, "Would you support a man with these views?"

Fike said in an e-mail to the faculty that he had initially told the Young Conservatives that they should stand for all that was good about conservatism and reject the bad.

"I also told them that if I was ever ashamed of them, that was it for me," Fike wrote. "I am now ashamed beyond words."

[SwinneySwitch]

Tony Listi, chairman of the Young Conservatives, said Fike had a "Barack Obama for President" sign outside his house.

[17th Miss Regt]

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

[rstrahan]

How about a conservative who actually supports conservative ideas instead of a leftist?

[kenth]

Fighting leftist professors is bad? Yep, good riddance.

[weegee]

A faculty adviser for the Texas A&M chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas has resigned, saying he was "ashamed beyond words" when the group posted fliers identifying four professors who signed a petition opposing "demonization" of 1960s radical William Ayers.

So I take it that the faculty member is standing with Ayers and the pro-terrorist professors rather than America and conservativism.

Ayers was a "radical" as much as the KKK and terrorists of Islamic jihad are "radicals". He was a man who declared WAR on the United States government and gave allegiance to the North Vietnamese Communist flag. He is a traitor to this nation and a dark stain on the halls of academia.

[SwinneySwitch]

YCT ping!

[martin_fierro]

[BellStar]

A faculty adviser for the Texas A&M chapter of the Young Conservatives, another Marxist Mole outs himself job with his job done gets out.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Is that Larry Sinclair? ;^)

[pallis]

Cull out the liberal plants. All of conservatism is good, and those who are wise enough to understand conservatism should take back the GOP before it is completely useless.

[TexasCajun]

See the list here:

Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas A&M University

[SwinneySwitch]

The professors signing the endorsement:

Patrick Slattery, Professor of Teaching, Learning, and Culture;

Kathryn Bell McKenzie, Assistant Professor of Education Administration and Human Resource Development;

Marian Eide, Associate Professor of English;

Kimberly Brownn, Associate Professor of English and Director of Africana Studies.

[BenLurkin]

Doesn’t make sense. You’d think it would be the four professors who would be resigning

[generally]

Not surprising.

I doubt this was actually a motivation for his resignation. I suspect his work as a mole was done and he needed an out. He grabbed the first thing that came along because he got tired of waiting for the Young Conservatives to make a mistake.

This is laughable as an issue to resign over. I would think that if this were really a legitimate concern for him that it would be exactly the sort of thing that and ADVISOR should ADVISE about. Maybe he was less an advisor than a controller or monitor.

[SwinneySwitch]

Willkommen zur Obama Nation.

[KarlInOhio]

An interesting thought experiment is to reverse the sides of everyone and imagine what would happen. Suppose the University of Chicago professor was a well known abortion clinic bomber who stated publicly that regretted that he didn't do more. Now suppose that thousands of college professors around the country signed a petition supporting that professor. What would happen if the college pro-abortion group publicly criticized the faculty members who signed the petition? I propose that the university president would likely support the pro-abortion students and be looking for a way to fire the professors at his university who signed a petition supporting the abortion clinic bomber.

[kennedy]

"...the group posted fliers identifying four professors who signed a petition opposing "demonization" of 1960s radical William Ayers."

I would not sign a petition if I would be ashamed to have it publicly known that I had signed the petition.

If public university professors want to sign a petition supporting an unrepentant terrorist I think they should have every right to do so. I also think that if anyone wants to print up posters identifying the professors who signed the petition they should have every right to do so.

It is called free speech. If a public university prohibits the free and open debate of ideas, then it becomes nothing more than a government indoctrination center.

Of course, in the ObamaNation, free speech only protects far left wing liberals.

[relictele]

The shame was choosing him in the first place.

[Pontiac]

If these four professors did not believe in the words on the petition they should not have signed the petition.

If they believe in what the petition said they should not be embarrassed by being associated with that petition or Aryers.

[tx_eggman]

Associate Professor
Director of the Center for Telecommunications Technology Management
Office: 008 Fermier
Phone: 979-845-5169
Email:fike@entc.tamu.edu

Inquiring minds want to know