Former Weather Underground figure to speak at Dickinson State University

Dr. Bill Ayers, a former key figure in the Weatherman and later the Weather Underground movements, will appear on the Dickinson State University campus on Thursday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. in Beck Auditorium. Ayers, now a prominent education scholar at the University of Illinois-Chicago, will speak on the topic “Radical Activism in the 1960s.”

Ayers’ appearance is open to the public and sponsored by the Dickinson State University History Society. While on campus, Ayers will also meet with teacher education majors and speak at a luncheon meeting of the history society.

An offshoot of the socialist Students for a Democratic Society movement in the 1960s, the Weather Underground waged war against the United States government throughout the early 70s, bombing targets across the country which they considered emblematic of the real violence which they perceived the nation wreaking around the globe. During the height of its existence, the Weather Underground was responsible for riots in Chicago, breaking noted activist Timothy Leary from prison and helping him flee the country, and bombing, among other targets, the U.S. Capitol and Pentagon buildings.

As a result, Ayers, one of the most prominent members of the Weather Underground, was indicted in the spring of 1970 in federal court on charges of crossing state lines to incite riot and conspiracy to bomb police stations and government buildings. Ayers managed to stay one step ahead of authorities, living in 15 different states while on the lam, an experience he recounts in his 2001 memoir titled “Fugitive Days.”

Charges against Ayers were dropped in 1974 due to prosecutorial misconduct and illegal surveillance. Ayers and his wife, also a prominent figure in the Weather Underground movement, surrendered to authorities in 1980 following the birth of the couple’s second child.

Today, Ayers serves as a distinguished faculty member at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He is considered an expert on urban school reform and education reform and has authored or co-authored seven books on the subject.

11/1/2004 11:18:02 AM