http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10461815 Published Thursday October 16, 2008
William Ayers to speak at UNL
William Ayers, the 1960s radical who John McCain has cited in his campaign against Barack Obama, is scheduled to speak at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln the week after the election.
Ayers, an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will speak Nov. 15 at a UNL student research conference held by the College of Education and Human Science. The speech is titled, "We are Each Other's Keepers: Research to Change the World."
A UNL press release said no state money is being used for the lecture and that the speech is open to UNL faculty and students, although no one is required to attend.
UNL said questions will be moderated and stay on the topic of research in teaching.
The university said a faculty committee selected Ayers as a speaker in March.
Marjorie Kostelnik, dean of the college of education, said the college is "pleased to offer this opportunity for our students and faculty to hear a nationally acclaimed scholar, researcher and advocate for children and urban education reform."
"The controversy that has erupted during the election is unfortunate but it is not part of what he is asked here to Nebraska to discuss," she said in a statement.
- Jeffrey Robb