A little good news is always welcome on a Friday:
When retiring University of Illinois at Chicago professor Bill Ayers co-wrote a book in 1973, it was dedicated in part to Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy.
That came back to haunt Ayers when the U. of I. board, now chaired by Kennedy's son, considered his request for emeritus status Thursday. It was denied in a unanimous vote.
[. . .]
Emeritus status at the U. of I. is purely honorific, and does not include perks granted by some other schools, such as office space, insurance benefits and free parking.
University spokesman Tom Hardy said no one could recall the last time a request for emeritus status had been denied.
It's much appreciated by those of us in the yahoo right that a member of a group that participated in several bombings and who spent years on the run from the FBI won't get this "purely honorific" cap to his career, but why in the world was he hired in the first place? Sure like to have Vicki Chou, dean of the College of Education, elaborate on her comment that, "He's done a spectaculra job as a teacher here."
Federal charges against him were dropped not because he didn't do anything, by the way, but because they were based on illegal wiretaps. On the other hand, maybe Ayers is just "an aging lefty with a foolish past who is doing good." Let's leave the nice man alone, shall we?
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And I notice Chuck Colson and Gordon Liddy are now highly regarded by the right. At least they did their time. Ollie North, another right-wing hero, got off on the same sort of technicality that law-and-order types usually object to.
Ayers had pretty much disappeared until Sarah Palin, who I guarantee you had never heard of him, made Ayers a campaign issue.
I don't like Ayers either - he's literally a bomber. But could you at least try to be non-partisan when you criticize people who have dodgy pasts?