UIC faculty may fight Ayers decision Supporters say fallout from 'Prairie Fire' dedication created conflict of interest for board chair Kennedy - Chicago Tribune

UIC faculty may fight Ayers decision Supporters say fallout from 'Prairie Fire' dedication created conflict of interest for board chair Kennedy - Chicago Tribune

UIC faculty may fight Ayers decision
Supporters say fallout from 'Prairie Fire' dedication created conflict of interest for board chair Kennedy

September 30, 2010|By Jodi S. Cohen, Tribune reporter

University of Illinois at Chicago faculty leaders are weighing whether to ask the board of trustees to reconsider its controversial decision to deny emeritus status to retired professor William Ayers.

It's the latest twist in a showdown 40 years in the making between Ayers, a Vietnam War-era radical who later joined the UIC faculty, and Christopher Kennedy, the university's board chair, who was 4 when his father, the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated.

Following a passionate speech last week, 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. The other