4 1 The Lovell Chronicle I April 22, 2010
www. LovellChronicle.com
Freedom of
speech at UW
The University of Wyoming has gotten itself into quite
a pickle with a recent decision to cancel a campus visit by
1960s radical William Ayers.
Now a professor of education at the University of Illinois
at Chicago, Ayers was scheduled to speak on campus April
5, delivering a lecture entitled "Trudge toward Freedom:
Moral Commitment and Ethical Action." He was then to par-
ticipate in a teleconference with Wyoming school principals
on April 6.
Ayers was invited to speak as part of a biannual lecture
series sponsored by the University of Wyoming Social Jus-
tice Research Center, a privately-endowed organization. No
public funds were being used to pay for Ayers' visit.
But Ayers has become a lightning rod for controversy.
He helped found the militant left-wing terrorist group the
Weather Underground, which protested the Vietnam War
by bombing government buildings in the late 1960s, includ-
ing the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. (Nobody was killed
in the bombings.) He then leapt back into the spotlight two
years ago when he was linked to Democratic presidential
candidate, now President, Barack Obama by Obama's oppo-
nents and conservative activists.
When firestorm of controversy arose as word spread
about Ayers' impending visit to Laramie, the Social Justice
Research Center cancelled his visit, citing security concerns.
But clearly politics and money also played a role in the can-
cellation. Politicians and university officials were bombard-
ed by calls and e-mails protesting the Ayers visit, some of
which reportedly threatened to cut off funding to the univer-
sity.
At first it looked like the controversy would blow over,
but last week UW student Meg Lanker and Ayers sued the
university, saying that the university had violated their con-
stitutional right to free speech by not only cancelling the
visit but also banning Ayers from speaking at any campus
venue. When Lanker and the Secular Student Alliance cam-
pus group tried to re-schedule the Ayers lecture in the UW
Classroom Building, she was told by a university attorney
that she would not be able to rent any UW facility for the
Ayers lecture.
Ayers is now planning to lecture in Laramie on April 28
at an off-campus location, unless an injunction is granted to
force the unNersity:to at hi M Ecce.
one thing should be perfecti'] clear: it was just plain
dumb of the Social Justice Research Center to schedule
Ayers in the first place. Other universities have cancelled
scheduled Ayers visits, and clearly this visit simply wasn't
going to wash with most Wyoming people.
Surely the Center could have found someone else
equally as qualified to speak on "moral commitment and
ethical action" as the former, unrepentant bomber, who in
2001 wrote in a letter to the New York Times: "In light of
the indiscriminate murder of millions of Vietnamese, we
showed remarkable restraint." Instead, they picked the radi-
cal whose name everybody knows.
Didn't they see this coming?
But once Ayers was invited to speak, it made UW look
bad to cancel the visit, whether the decision was ultimate-
ly made by university officials (who deny doing so) or the
Social Justice Research Center. Why? Because the decision
smacks of hypocricy.
When native son and former Vice President Dick Cheney
appeared on campus in September when UW dedicated the
Cheney International Center (spurred by Dick and Lynne
Cheney's $3.2 million gift) in his honor, several students and
left-wing activists protested the visit, but in that case, the
university stood on principle.
In an opinion piece issued to Wyoming media, UW Presi-
dent Tom Buchanan wrote: "Whether you are Democrat or
Republican, liberal or conservative, Catholic or Protestant,
gay or straight, white or black, you are welcome at the Uni-
versity of Wyoming. Should we subject potential donors and
the purpose of their gift to public referendum? I think not."
In other words, academic freedom and free speech are
upheld at the University of Wyoming - unless big donors
and politicians come calling - at least that's how it looks to
the outside world.
It might have been better for UW to stick to their guns,
weather the political storm, allow the inevitable protests and
forge ahead. Other controversial figures have spoken at UW
in the past with nary a peep of protest.
Let's be clear: the decision to invite Ayers in the first
place showed an incredible lack of judgment by the Social
Justice Research Center, but the decision to pull Ayers' invi-
tation under political pressure is also troubling. On the other
hand, the citizens of Wyoming clearly have the right to ex-
press their opinion about the activities of our publicly-fund-
ed university and have done so in spades.
And if activists can protest Dick Cheney, who gave gen-
erously to his alma mater, as if to say, "We don't want him
on campus," it seems equally hypocritical of them to sue
when the people of Wyoming make their collective voices
heard and demand that a different speaker not speak on
campus.
Let's hope this can be a learning experience for all. If
nothing else, students at UW are realizing that the world is
complicated and that it's worth standing up for what you
believe in, whichever side of the political aisle you stand on.
--David Peck
THI00M WITH TH'
SUPPLY CAN I00EMANP
WHAT THEY LIKE!
!
Letter to the editor
Murpheys thank everyone for support
Dear Editor,
We would like to thank every-
one for their prayers, support and
care after CJ's track accident.
Special thanks to Jim Min-
chow for coming to Powell ER and
donating money for travel expens-
es to Denver and setting up an ac-
count for our boys at home at Min-
chow's while Scott and I were in
Denver.
To Dale Walker for getting
Scott's car to him and money for
travel. To Kenna and Tommi for
rushing to Denver.
Thanks to Bob Mangus, Melis-
sa Wolvington, Allen and Elaine
Harvey, Becky Hetland and the
NBHH EMT's, Genielle Brown,
Jeanette Ohman and David and
Susan Peck for making sure our
boys were taken care of with food
donations. To Jon and Jake for
taking such good care of Trace.
Special thanks to the LMS
staff, students and staff at LES,
Dale and Daphne Hartman and
Mel and Jen McArthur and their
amazing children for money do-
nations for medical expenses. To
Mrs: Hinckley's fifth-grade class
and LMS track team for making
the great cards.
Thanks to Powell EMS, ER
and Denver Children's Hospital
for the excellent care that you gave
CJ. The outpouring of love, care,
and the power of prayer from our
community has been overwhelm-
ing and greatly appreciated.
Scott, Shelley, CJ, Jon,
Jake and Trace
Lovell's biggest blood drive
I am not sure you are all
aware of what happened on April
7, 2010, but I am about to tell you:
Lovell had its biggest blood drive
ever.
I want to take this opportuni-
ty to thank those that came and
participated and those that tried.
You arethe ones that made it all
possible.
The disappointing part of that
is we only had 54 people and 59
units of blood. For Lovell, Cowley,
Byron, Deaver and Frannie, that
is kind of disappointing to me.
I would like to put a challenge
out there for our communities. The
next blood drive is June 2, 2010. I
would like to ask that we get more
people to try to donate blood. I am
sure we have more people in our
communities that have it in them
to save a life or three. If people
only knew how important it was
and how many people counted on
blood drives like our community
drive. So come on and give it a try,
I am challengiig ou all to make
a difference. :
Shauna Hillman
Guest column
We cannot let f'reedom
be denie00t
BY GENIELLE BROWN
Everyone who knows me well
knows what a dunce I am at the
Internet. Computer smarts is
not what I have ... NO WAY! I'm
bothering the TCT WEST techni-
cal crew all the time, bless their
souls. So why do I spend so much
of my precious time computing?
Because once in a blue moon I
get something that is really good,
one of which I received this week.
The author is unknown, which is
one of my pet peeves: anonymous
always raises my curiosity and
I wonder why people don't have
the courage to sign their name
to their works. So...my comput-
er guru went searching, and she
found that the site where it was
first printed was a post of Reu-
ters, Jan. 27, by a reader identify-
ing himself as 02BNTEXAS:
"The danger to America is not
Barack Obama, but a citizenry ca-
pable of entrusting a man like him
with the presidency. The problem
is much deeper and far more se-
rious that Mr. Obama, who is a
mere symptom of what ails us.
Blaming the price of fools should
not blind anyone to the vast con-
federacy of fools that made him
their prince..." Look it up if you
want it all.
At first, I thought this was
correct, but the more I thought
about it, the more I realized that
they were not fools, but a very
well organized group of intellectu-
ally smart, but spiritually foolish ,
anti-Americans who awakened
those who don't understand the
genius of our founding fathers to
the possibilities of getting some-
thing for nothing.
I bet I get a rise out of someone
for writing this, but Mr. Obama is
just a puppet doing in his inept
way the things that he is told to
do. Yes, a very dangerous thing
for our blessed America, but we
have been going down this grad-
ual path for over a century. And
most the world is already there.
There have always been the so-
cialists of Europe, right from the
start of our republic, who have in-
fluenced some of the most wealthy
of this country to want more than
money, since they have all of that
which they need. Power and con-
trol have been the watchwords of
that society, not love of their fel-
low men and help for the poor.
Goodness, if they really loved
the poor, they could have given
from their hearts and bank ac-
counts out of fellowship and love,
not from the public treasury in
Washington, and not to have their
names on hospitals, libraries, etc.
Okay...I do concede that they have
done some good. But you watch as
the winding up scene occurs, who
the real statesmen and benefac-
tors will be. Not those who want
to change the world for their own
luxury and pleasure.
So what can we peons do to
help this situation without being
looked at as constitutional radi-
cals? How many of you have tak-
en the time to read the Constitu-
tion, or the 5000 Year Leap, or
The Survivors Club, or The Bible.
Or even the Communist Manifes-
to, all about the utopia that will
come after all those against it are
out of the picture. Who was it that
said, "I will be like the most high
God" and use force to do it?
Breathe easy! That will nev-
er happen, but there are things
we can do to see that it does not.
There are groups throughout
America, not only in churches,
who are setting their alarms for
seven o'clock MDT every evening
to stop and say a prayer for our
beloved country. As Billy Graham
said, "To get nations back on their
feet, we must first get down on
our knees."
Abraham Lincoln freed the
slaves and we now have those
who will make us slaves. He said,
"Those who deny freedom to others
deserve it not for themselves, and,
under a just God, cannot long re-
tain it." Years ago, I heard Ronald
Reagan say, "Peace is the highest
aspiration of the American Peo-
ple. We will negotiate for it, sacri-
fice for it; we will never surrender
for it, now or ever." I really hope
that it true for us today!
............. Letters to th e ........
editor ..............
...... The Lovell Chronicle
welcomes letters from its .........................................
readers and will rnake every
effort to print::them Letters
............. longer than 400 words may
not be printed. Letters must be ....
signed and include the:addreSs
and teleph0ne number of the
writer, Unsigned letters will be
........... discarded. Writers are limited to
two letters in any 30 day:period: .............
All letters rnust conform to
the law of libel and be in good
............ taste. They may be mailed
to The Lovell Chronicle, Box ......................
787, Lovell, WY 82431 ;::or ..............
delivered to our office at 234
E, Main:St., Lovell. A strict 1:00
............. p.m. Tuesday deadline will be ....
enforced. ........... :
2008 AWARD-WINNING NEWSPAPER
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
In Big Horn and
Park Counties $25
In Wyoming $35
Outside Wyoming $10
Single copy 75¢
Postmaster: Send address
changes to:
The Lovell Chronicle,
USPS 321-060
234 E. Main, Lovell,
Wyoming 82431
(307) 548-2217
Published every Thursday
Periodical postage paid at
Lovell, Wyoming
Editor and Publisher:
David Peck
Brad Devereaux, News Editor
Staff: Gladys McNeil.
Pat Parmer, Susan Peck.
Dorothy Nelson.
Marwyn Layne, Erin Henson.
Kymbre Moorehead.
Teressa Ennis. Jason Zeller.
illlllli|llliil/I II,lllll00,00llJ]00 Jllllll00, IlllllH IIIll,l]i Jl I|llHlilt! i i 00l00l00F/00:00ll111] '
