N.C. academics offer Ayers endorsement
Published: Wed, Oct. 15, 2008 10:10AM
Modified Wed, Oct. 15, 2008 10:24AM
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closeCHAPEL HILL -- Bill Ayers, the radical militant-turned-university professor whose ties to Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama are under scrutiny, is getting some support from faculty members across the country.
Professors from UNC-Chapel Hill are among the more than 3,200 educators who have signed an online petition in support of Ayers. More than a dozen signatories are from local universities here in the Triangle.
Lawrence Grossberg, a UNC communications studies professor, said he signed the petition because he believes Ayers should not be demonized for his actions 40 years ago. He said he also respects the work Ayers does now as an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Ayers is a school reform advocate who has written or edited more than a dozen books.
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"He did break the law, and he was punished and he moved on," Grossberg said. "He built an extraordinary life. He has become one of the leading scholars in the field of education. [People are] excoriating him for things he did 40 years ago and misrepresenting what he has done since, in order to make someone else suffer. That doesn't seem very American to me."
Most local signers were from UNC-Chapel Hill, though others were from Duke, N.C. State and UNC Greensboro.
eric.ferreri@newsobserver.com or (919) 956-2415
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