Polarizing educator talks education
An elementary education theorist from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Bill Ayers, visited Fresno State Friday as a guest of one of the school’s clubs.
The controversial figure spoke to an audience in the Satellite Student Union (SSU), where the event was moved to accommodate a larger crowd. Ayers challenged the educators and education students in attendance to meet their students’ individual needs, and not just see them as their grade level.
Outside of the SSU, about 12 protestors stood holding signs that said things like, “Support our constitution, not communism.”
Ayers was a member of an anti-war group called Weather Underground in the early 1970s, which took responsibility for bombings around the country during the Vietnam War.
After his speech and book signing, Ayers presented a film called “Central Station” to the Cineculture class and club, which sponsored his visit.
It was reported that his visit to Fresno’s Tower District on Thursday was also met with some protest.
Ayers sat down with The Collegian for a five-minute interview.
Q: Are you familiar with the student activism surrounding budget cuts in California?
A: My younger brother is a doctoral student at Cal [University of California, Berkeley], and he’s been part of it.