U. of I. faculty members, students may ask trustees to reconsider William Ayers
Look only at academics in deciding emeritus status, they urge
Following a similar suggestion at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, faculty and students in Urbana also may ask trustees to reconsider their decision to deny emeritus status to controversial professor William Ayers.
A resolution proposed by student senator Max Ellithorpe, a member of the U. of I. Senate, asks trustees to "look only at (Ayers') body of academic work and service" and states that Chairman Christopher Kennedy should have abstained from discussing Ayers' request for emeritus status at last month's meeting.
The faculty and student concern comes after Kennedy voted against Ayers' appointment, saying he was guided by his conscience and could not support someone who had dedicated a book to the man who assassinated his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The other trustees, without comment, also voted to deny the title to Ayers, who retired in August after joining UIC as an education professor in 1987.
"Those remarks were quite understandable given Chairman Kennedy's family history, but I don't think they were appropriate