Bill Ayers denied emeritus status after plea from Chris Kennedy

[marmar]

Ayers denied emeritus status after plea from Chris Kennedy
September 23, 2010 4:41 PM |


In a very unusual move, University of Illinois trustees this afternoon denied giving emeritus status to controversial retired professor William Ayers.

The vote, at a U. of I. board meeting in Urbana, was unanimous and came after a passionate speech by board chair Christopher Kennedy, who invoked the assassination of his father, Robert F. Kennedy in saying that he was voting his "conscience."

Ayers, the Vietnam War-era radical, had been an education faculty member at UIC since 1987. A co-founder of the Weather Underground anti-war group, he was frequently in the media spotlight and, as such, became one of the university's best known faculty members.

"I am guided by my conscience and one which has been formed by a series of experiences, many of which have been shared with the people of our country and mark each of us in a profound way," Kennedy said.

He later said: "I intend to vote against conferring the honorific title of our university to a man whose body of work includes a book dedicated in part to the man who murdered my father."

Ayers retired Aug. 31.

The emeritus position is largely honorific, and includes some benefits like library privileges. According to the UIC faculty handbook, the granting of emeritus status is "based on merit" and is "an extraordinary title that is given for extraordinary service."

-- Jodi Cohen


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