Spring Break
Bill Ayers to visit campus
by Alana Abramson
Staff writer
News | 3/3/09
Posted online at 6:25 AM EST on 3/3/09
The Student Union Senate voted 10-8 at last Sunday's Senate meeting to pass a Senate Money Resolution providing $900 of funding from the Senate discretionary fund for Bill Ayers and Robert H. King to speak at Brandeis March 30 and April 3, respectively.
The debate over the resolution was contentious, with many of the Senators arguing that Lev Hirschhorn and Alex Melman, senators for the Class of 2011, who are members of Democracy for America, one of the resolution's sponsors, should refrain from voting. Hirschhorn and Melman ultimately voted in favor of the resolution.
Ayers is a founding member of the Weather Underground and is currently a professor of education at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He became a very controversial figure during the presidential election last fall when the Republican party tried to tie him to Pres. Barack Obama. King, a member of the Black Panther Party, spent 32 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder.
Hirschhorn said that DFA, Students for a Democratic Society, the History department and the Peace, Conflict and Coexistence program are co-sponsoring Ayers' and Kings' respective visits. Hirschhorn added that Ayers asked for $2,500 in speaking fees and King asked for $1,000.
The senators who voted against the resolution thought the funding was too excessive and that the event was too controversial for the Student Union to sponsor. "The Student Union should not be supporting the visit of someone like Bill Ayers, a domestic terrorist," Senator for the Class of 2010 Rebecca Wilkof, who voted against the resolution, said in an interview with the Justice.
She later said, "Regardless of my political beliefs, however, I do not think it is appropriate for the Senate to sponsor an event that is aimed at a fairly select group of people. The money in the Senate discretionary fund is for senators' projects, and this money resolution is clearly a club project."
Melman said in an interview that he felt the passage of the resolution showed the strength of the Senate. "It shows that the Student Union will commit itself to controversial events that will be educational, even if it will greatly anger some people."
The debate over the resolution was contentious, with many of the Senators arguing that Lev Hirschhorn and Alex Melman, senators for the Class of 2011, who are members of Democracy for America, one of the resolution's sponsors, should refrain from voting. Hirschhorn and Melman ultimately voted in favor of the resolution.
Ayers is a founding member of the Weather Underground and is currently a professor of education at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He became a very controversial figure during the presidential election last fall when the Republican party tried to tie him to Pres. Barack Obama. King, a member of the Black Panther Party, spent 32 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder.
Hirschhorn said that DFA, Students for a Democratic Society, the History department and the Peace, Conflict and Coexistence program are co-sponsoring Ayers' and Kings' respective visits. Hirschhorn added that Ayers asked for $2,500 in speaking fees and King asked for $1,000.
The senators who voted against the resolution thought the funding was too excessive and that the event was too controversial for the Student Union to sponsor. "The Student Union should not be supporting the visit of someone like Bill Ayers, a domestic terrorist," Senator for the Class of 2010 Rebecca Wilkof, who voted against the resolution, said in an interview with the Justice.
She later said, "Regardless of my political beliefs, however, I do not think it is appropriate for the Senate to sponsor an event that is aimed at a fairly select group of people. The money in the Senate discretionary fund is for senators' projects, and this money resolution is clearly a club project."
Melman said in an interview that he felt the passage of the resolution showed the strength of the Senate. "It shows that the Student Union will commit itself to controversial events that will be educational, even if it will greatly anger some people."
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 17
Lev
posted 3/03/09 @ 10:16 AM EST
To my knowledge, the history department has committed just $100, not $400.
Mark J. Collins
posted 3/03/09 @ 11:37 AM EST
Who approved these events and who is paying the full costs associated with them? Public safety costs, and other campus operation costs as well as rentals of chairs, A/V, etc. (Continued…)
David A. Kaufman '93
posted 3/03/09 @ 3:31 PM EST
I wasn't surprised, really, to see that Brandeis University has invited an unrepentant domestic terrorist and man who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit the murder of a police officer (although his original conviction for murder was overturned, that's not the same as the article's term of "wrongly convicted"). (Continued…)
Jonathan Abbett '02
posted 3/03/09 @ 7:05 PM EST
A bit of advice.
I believe in peace, in justice, in democracy, but throughout my time at Brandeis and since, the sponsors of this event have never appealed to me. (Continued…)
Gideon
posted 3/04/09 @ 5:00 PM EST
I was shot down 4-3 from within Students United for Israel when I proposed bringing Robert Spencer (www.jihadwatch.org). I'm not sure how my senators (2011) managed to get a majority of the Senate to sponsor just as extreme of a figure to come for their club. (Continued…)
Paul Trusten, R.Ph., '73
posted 3/06/09 @ 10:16 AM EST
"Truth Even Unto Its Innermost Parts" always manages to expose raw nerves. I do not like Bill Ayers; I condemn his alleged violent revolutionary acts against the U. (Continued…)
jb0206475
John Bottonari
posted 3/06/09 @ 1:49 PM EST
Prefatory to his appointment to the first endowed chair in the new Department of Business Administration.
Leigh
posted 3/06/09 @ 4:54 PM EST
I have to be honest. I am a little disturbed about the fact that the Student Union gave money to bring an unrepentant terrorist to speak at Brandeis. I would understand if this was solely a DFA sponsored event. (Continued…)
Ellis Smith
posted 3/06/09 @ 5:52 PM EST
Wow, you guys have really jumped the shark. PAYING a domestic terrorist to come speak at your school? My school is crazy too, but it's not that crazy. (Continued…)
Alan Royals
posted 3/07/09 @ 12:22 AM EST
How the hell did the Senate pass this unconstitutional SMR? Did the extremists on the left finally show up for a meeting? I thought all of them had resigned by now. (Continued…)
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