Replies

From Melanie Morgan's Website:

A parent of two students at St. Mary's has contacted me with this email:

"...I spoke this morning with Michael Bessea (sic?), a Vice President at St. Mary’s. The upshot of the conversation was his acknowledgment that the college has unnecessarily created a controversy with a poor choice in speakers. He told me that Ayers was invited by a faculty committee without input from the rest of the faculty. He has received numerous protests from students, parents and faculty apparently. Bessea admitted that Ayers is being paid, but declined to state the amount."

St. Mary's is being flooded with emails, so keep the pressure up!

Dear Bro. This decision is going to cost St. Mary’s a lot of money. The January Term committee in their arrogance showed no regard for the community you take up space in. Your arrogance is a bit much as well.

E-newsletter for Saint Mary’s College of California: Jan. 21, 2009

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

*GOP*Dear Members of the Saint Mary’s College Community,

You’ve likely heard that some members of our College community and some beyond are concerned with the decision to invite Professor William Ayers to campus as part of the January Term speaker series for this year’s theme of Against the Grain. I’m writing to clarify the circumstances regarding Professor Ayers selection, to share the College’s official position on the matter and to provide additional information regarding his visit.

Professor Ayers was selected by the January Term committee, a group composed primarily of faculty members, to speak about “Trudging Toward Freedom: Building a Movement and Living Our Lives for Peace and Justice.” Professor Ayer’s selection in no way constitutes an endorsement by the College of any past actions, viewpoints or political opinions. Nor is his invitation an attempt on the part of the College to honor him in any way.

Some have called on me or the College to rescind or overrule the January Term leadership’s invitation to Professor Ayers. To do so would be to undermine the educational principles and values upon which our College is based. Institutions of higher education serve society and their local communities by providing a place for opinions and ideas of all types to be examined, questioned and discussed. It is in these “academic cities” that the arts of reason and of inquiry, the fruits of the liberal arts, are brought to bear on the controversial issues of today and of all time. For students, faculty members and the public, colleges provide a special opportunity to step away from the often overheated and polarized rhetoric of contemporary culture and examine difficult and controversial issues in the somewhat cooler light of reason.

As a College with a Great Books tradition, we have a responsibility to defend the rights of those with controversial viewpoints to speak. To live up to our great tradition, we must remain an academic community where the free and open discussion of ideas, even those with which we strongly disagree, is possible.

Let me be clear, I strongly disagree with many of Professor Ayers past actions, statements and viewpoints; nevertheless, I support the January Term Committee’s right to invite him to the College, and will insist that he is treated with the respect and courtesy all of our invited academic speakers deserve. Professor Ayers has indicated that he will take questions after his address. I am certain that our students, faculty and staff members will raise probing, difficult and thoughtful questions.

While I regret that some are disappointed in the January Term’s decision to invite Professor Ayers, I am aware of the provocative conversation that the announcement of his talk has already engendered and anticipate the vigorous discourse that his remarks and visit are likely to elicit. Those who wish to protest Professor Ayers presence on campus will be given the opportunity, within reasonable limits, to do so as long as their activities do not interfere with or harm the academic work of the college or the access of students and faculty to Professor Ayers’s address.

I am also grateful for the input and engagement by many of our College constituents in this issue. Offering a forum for an exchange of diverse opinions is essential to fulfilling our mission. We are a community committed to conversations focused on essential questions, which ignite a lifelong passion for learning.

Sincerely,
Brother Ronald Gallagher, FSC
President

Update from Melanie Morgan's Website:

Conservative Protest Against Domestic Terrorist Begins Wednesday!

Written by Melanie Morgan

Monday, 26 January 2009

A late afternoon meeting between St. Mary's College officials in Moraga, Calif. resulted in a negotiated access settlement, but no "diss-invitation" of sixties radical underground former Weatherman Bill Ayers.
"Simple Justice, Not Social Justice" coalition consisting of Move America Forward, Contra Costa County Republicans,Patriot Guard Riders, San Francisco College Republicans, KSFO radio listeners and St. Mary's students and alumn are preparing for a sixties style teach-in during the day on the secluded East Bay campus.
Larry Grathwohl, a former FBI informant who penetrated the Weather Underground at the time the group attempted three mass murders, will try to confront domestic terrorist (and Obama family friend) Bill Ayers at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, CA on January 28.
Grathwohl will be a featured speaker at a protest against Ayers organized by Move America Forward.Ayers is presently on a book tour promoting a book on "social justice" that more than likely skips over how must justice can be found in the elimination of 25 million in concentration camps once hoped for by the leadership of the Weather Underground.
The protest rally begins at 6:00 in the evening, but protestors are encouraged to come earlier for TV live shots.
The university is not reversing course despite intense lobbying by thousands of citizens from across the Bay, and around the country.
The coalition is pleased to announce, however, that we will have unfettered access to the front of the Soda Center where Bill Ayers will be speaking 48 hours from now.
Bring your flags, signs, kids, grandma and grandpa - wear your love of our great country for everyone to see!
Go to our protest website for details, maps, times and directions.
I have been invited to appear on the Fox News Network with Bill O'Reilly to discuss the protest action tomorrow night. Check your local listings.
Let's show St. Mary's that we do not support radical activist bombers - no matter which decade in which they operate.

Note the bolded area.

Melanie Morgan will be on O'Reilly's show tomorrow nite on The Fox News Network.

For those of you in the Nothern California Area it will probably air at 5PM and repeated at 8.