Posted on 01/08/2009 10:18:34 AM PST by thinkingIsPresuppositional
By Katie O'Malley
The College of DuPage (COD) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, has announced the February speaker for their Living Leadership Program. Based on the desired goals of the series, COD students, parents and the taxpayers of DuPage County should have much to be excited about. The program, according to their website, is based on the following philosophies: “Leadership is a skill, therefore anyone can learn it, practice it, and become better at it. Leadership is not tied to position, title or authority. Leaders use 1) Conscious Decision-Making 2) Active Participation, and 3) Understanding of Multiple Perspectives to impact their communities in positive ways.” Specifically, COD hopes to aid in “connecting students with people who are showing leadership through their action in today’s world.”
And yet, when the office for Student Activities sent an email message campus wide announcing William “Weather Underground” Ayers as the featured speaker, it landed with a thud. Despite an influx of emails, calls and concern, COD seems curiously oblivious to the controversy. But not so oblivious that the initial email somehow managed to mysteriously leave off all members of the COD Board of Trustees.
After reading the stated goals of the series, one cannot help but ponder how a dried up old hippie, whose claim to fame is almost 40 years old, can possibly be relevant as someone who shows action in today’s world. The only “action” he seems to have consistently participated in recently is the pimping of his memoir chronicling his reign of terror and the whiplash inducing ducking and weaving of the spotlight during the Obama Presidential Campaign. Embarrassing, yes. Leadership? Not so much.
Kory Atkinson, a Trustee for COD, will be asking the Board of Trustees to discuss the concerns that are being raised, not only with the invitation of Ayers, but with the leftist slant of speakers invited to COD in recent years, during a January 12th Board meeting.
“The students, residents and taxpayers of COD have a right to expect that the College will use public funds responsibly. Paying an admitted and unrepentant domestic terrorist to speak to our students about ‘leadership’ is simply appalling and demonstrates poor judgment in the use of public dollars.”
Ayers is a public figure. However reprehensible he may be personally or his actions may have been, that simple truth is not in dispute. He rose to national prominence in the late 1960’s as a leader in the Students for a Democratic Society. Later, he achieved infamy with his association with the Weather Underground and his influence in that movement’s drive toward more militant and violent behavior. Ayers, as noted as recently as 2004 in an interview, remains unrepentant about his violent proclivities though he attempts to distance himself from the moniker “domestic terrorist”.
Perhaps Ayers hopes to hide behind an oversimplification of the definition of a terrorist . That it can only be defined by body count and MSM coverage. Achieving the loss of life through violent acts is not the only goal of terrorists. It is the infusion of terror into the lives of ordinary citizens, as well as government officials, in order to manipulate civic policy and sway citizens either toward a desired political philosophy or, at the very least, keep them from speaking out in opposition. Whether it means that they are afraid to board airplanes, invest in an economy or stand up for beliefs that might make them the focal point of violence, terror is the ultimate goal, not just death and destruction…terror that inspires inaction, passiveness and docile behavior in the face of opposition.
Timothy McVeigh understood the opportunity and methods to instill terror. How is William Ayers any different than McVeigh? Merely because McVeigh was more savvy in his explosives capabilities? Would McVeigh, were he alive, not meet the College of DuPage’s criteria? Indeed, were his actions not more relevant than Ayers if only because they came closer to what COD seems to think is important “action in today’s world” by occurring more recently than 40 years ago?
Trustee Atkinson hopes to remind the College of DuPage of their chartered goals. “Part of COD’s mission is to offer programs that educate students for responsible citizenship, civility, and mutual respect in a multicultural and global society. Mr. Ayers’s resort to violence and his lack of repentance is the antithesis of responsible citizenship, civility, and mutual respect.”
It seems that COD is more focused on pushing a political agenda than providing the students and taxpayers of DuPage with relevant and admirable leadership and inspiration. I find it hard to believe that DuPage County has failed to produce a member of the military who has inspired others with great leadership and accomplishments. Atkinson notes, “It is inexcusable that in a community as large and prosperous as DuPage County and the Chicago metropolitan area that COD cannot identify a speaker with more leadership skills than a domestic terrorist.”
Katie O'Malley is the National Director of AnyStreet.org and a writer for Human Events.
“one cannot help but ponder how a dried up old hippie, whose claim to fame is almost 40 years old, can possibly be relevant as someone who shows action in todays world”
This is wrong-headed thinking. Ayers committed terrorist acts 40 years ago, but he has done much more damage recently and continues to do so. His accomplishments in the field of turning the education system into an indoctrination machine are much more heinous than the bombs he set. He is certainly one of the left’s current leaders (as the article puts it).
The “multiple perspective” aspect mentioned in the article is part of the Marxist Dialectic. Wiki it if you aren’t familiar.
Apparently, the only leadership the college is interested in, is socialist, community-organizer-style leadership.
Your tax dollars at work.
Micheal E. McKinnon
Board Chairman
Oak Brook
Term expires 2009
Mark J. Nowak
Board Vice Chairman
Addison
Term expires 2009
Kory Atkinson
Roselle
Term expires 2009
David Carlin
Naperville
Term expires 2013
Joseph T. Snyder
Burr Ridge
Term expires 2009
Kathy A. Wessel
Wheaton
Term expires 2011
Joseph C. Wozniak
Naperville
Term expires 2013
Malek Zoubi
Student Trustee
Lombard
Student Trustee
Ayers should be compared to McVeigh at every opportunity. McVeigh had more explosives savvy but Ayers had a better getaway plan.
I agree with all your characterizations of Ayers, but he is still a serious threat. Many in Chicago and in education consider him to be a guiding light for our childrens education; bringing “social justice” to our children. This is another serious reason why the ONE should not have been elcted; since he is on the same page as Ayers on education.
fyi ping
Save this article for when CoD asks for a tax hike or a bond issue.
Didn’t he also recently take his “education plan” to Venezuela where Hugo Chavez praised it?
Reminder placemark to call my County Board rep. COD gets money from DuPage County IIRC.
Bill Ayers' wealthy and influential daddy is no longer able to protect him -- who is protecting Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn today? Academe? MSM employees? Crook County, Illinois? The Rat Party (formerly the traditional, patriotic Democratic Party)? State and federal bureaucrats? All of the above?
Will the new president join the rabble protecting Mr. and Mrs. Ayers?
If Obama fires the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California and his DoJ stops all investigations of this and other decades-old, terrorist murders of policemen the answer will be a definite YES!
Lost me here...
The difference between Ayers and McVeigh is that Ayers declared war against America, waved the flag of the nation we were at war with (committing treason, not mere sedition with his acts of violence against the US government), and was a Communist (with bisexual experiences designed to smash monogamy).
Also Ayers had more safehouses than McVeigh and was able to survive safeharbor from the authorities through a criminal conspiracy of other radicals.
Both were guilty as sin. Both had partners who were never charged.
Great bumper sticker!!
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