Related: Some Terrorists Are Better Than Others
"Patrick criticizes faculty decision on UMass speaker" by Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent | November 11, 2009
Opponents of an invitation for convicted terrorist Ray Luc Levasseur to speak at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst this week breathed a collective sigh of relief last Thursday, when organizers of a forum canceled his visit amid an uproar from state and university leaders.
But their victory was short-lived. Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick and UMass officials launched a fresh broadside a day after a small group of faculty independently invited Levasseur to the state’s flagship campus.
“I am more than a little disappointed about this invitation having been extended,’’ Patrick said at a State House news conference. “I fully get the point and respect the idea of free speech. But I think it is a reflection of profound insensitivity to continue to try and have this former terrorist on the campus.’’
But war criminals can get paid to lecture, right?
Wasn't Andy Card a guest once?
As protesters geared for a big turnout tomorrow, campus leaders echoed the governor’s stance. But they asserted they could not overstep the academic freedom of faculty....
UMass President Jack M. Wilson said in a statement: “.... we see no way of preventing a speaking appearance, based on the free speech and free assembly rights we enjoy in this country and based on the well-established principles of academic freedom.’’
Wilson said he had directed that no state funds be used to support the event....
How you doin', Jack?
University officials said professor Sara Lennox, who directs the Program on Social Thought and Political Economy, was one of the professors who reached out to Levasseur after his invitation was rescinded. Lennox did not return several messages last night....
Would you want to talk to the Globe?
Donna Lamonaco, the widow of a New Jersey state trooper shot dead in 1981 by members of Levasseur’s antigovernment United Freedom Front, said she pushed the university to cancel the event last week, has organized two busloads of protesters to drive from New Jersey to Amherst tomorrow. The expected group of about 50 will meet law enforcement officials from across Massachusetts to protest the speech, she said....
They won't have to worry about being abused, huh!
And I guess in this instance, the idea that the issue "is pushed by out-of-state interests" is okay, huh, agenda-pushing paper?
Related: Around New England: Remember Maine!
The controversy made it to the floor of the state Senate yesterday, where members passed a nonbinding resolution condemning the invitation of Levasseur.
Sigh: What is Your State Legislature Doing Today?
Yup, MORE WASTING of TAXPAYER TIME and MONEY!!!!
The measure, which passed 33-1, was sponsored by Republicans Robert L. Hedlund, Bruce Tarr, Michael Knapik, Richard Tisei, and Scott Brown and Democrats Steven Baddour and Steven Panagiotakos.
I'm disappointed, Dick.
I wonder who the 1 was.
--more--"
"Patrick should support free speech at UMass
.... A university campus is a forum for discussing difficult issues and for examining even the most abhorrent views.
Yeah, UNLESS it is 9/11!!!
Just ask PROFESSORS Stephen Jones of BYU or Kevin Barrett of Wisconsin about that.
To create an environment that allows for the open exchange of ideas, universities must protect their faculty and students’ ability to invite provocative speakers. Furthermore, everyone should recognize that silencing contentious speech does little good, while allowing it has the potential to prevent harm.
Unless, of course... hey, professor, how can buildings fall down that way because of fire when none have before or since?
By bringing hostile views of hate groups into the open, for example, universities can confront prejudice....
Translation: As long as the speech fulfills an agenda-advancing aspect and is kept within certain parameters, it's okay!
The thumping you hear is the Founding Fathers flipping over in their caskets.
"Parole rules halt terrorist’s talk; Can’t leave Maine to visit UMass" by Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent | November 12, 2009
In another twist to a free-speech controversy that has roiled the governor and people across the state, Ray Luc Levasseur said he will not speak at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst today, obeying parole orders to stay in his home state of Maine.
Oh, the TERRORIST lives in MAINE, does he?
It is the second cancellation in six days of the convicted terrorist’s appearance at the state’s flagship campus.
“I’m disappointed, but I’m not surprised, given the climate that’s been created,’’ said Levasseur, 63, a carpenter on parole for terrorism and bombing convictions in the 1980s. “What the police have done at UMass, they’re punishing the hell out of the First Amendment.’’
Levasseur’s appearance was canceled last week amid pressure from state and university officials, but was back on Monday after a small group of faculty re-invited him. Governor Deval Patrick and UMass leaders lashed out at the professors’ decision Tuesday, but said they could not overstep “academic freedom.’’
“We see no way of preventing a speaking appearance, based on the free speech and free assembly rights we enjoy in this country,’’ UMass President Jack M. Wilson said in a statement. But officials said they were happy with yesterday’s decision and criticized the professors, such as Sara Lennox, director of the school’s Social Thought and Political Economy program, which is sponsoring the event. Lennox could not be reached for comment.
Old SARA is really taking a lot of heat, huh? I don't even want to think it, readers.
“We are pleased with this outcome,’’ UMass-Amherst’s chancellor, Robert C. Holub, said in a statement. “While the principle of academic freedom prevents us from barring such a speaker, no matter how repugnant his views, we call on the faculty and the campus community to find better-qualified, more appropriate speakers. . . . We should never shy away from controversy, but we should also not seek it for its own sake.’’
I don't know; they host war criminal apologists at other schools.
Patrick spokesman Joe Landolfi added, “Governor Patrick made clear from the start that he opposed this appearance, out of concern for the families of the victims. He appreciates the decision of the United States Parole authorities to deny his travel to Massachusetts.’’
In the early 1970s, Levasseur cofounded the United Freedom Front, a radical group that claimed responsibility for a series of bank robberies and bombings, including the 1976 Suffolk County Courthouse blast that injured 22. Despite Levasseur’s absence, the event will go on. Pat Levasseur, Ray’s former wife and a former Freedom Front member, will speak at tonight’s forum on the couple’s 1989 federal sedition trial, billed as the longest and most expensive in state history, which ended in the Lavasseurs’ acquittal....
With the event still scheduled, so are the planned protests....
UMass campus police, though forced to work the event, stood in solidarity with the opponents....
Watch: Never Ever Ever Ever Ever EVER Talk To Cops!!!!
Just hope they don't harass you, attendees of the lecture.
Arnie Larson, president of the state Fraternal Order of Police, said local police forces put pressure on Levasseur’s parole officer and the commission to prevent his appearance.
“We reached out to people in the Justice Department and educated them about our passion here and why this individual should be held to the rules of his probation and not be allowed to leave the State of Maine, and they followed through on it,’’ he said.
But.... not everyone who suffered in the Freedom Front’s wake agrees with stifling Levasseur’s voice. Edmund Narine, who lost a leg in the 1976 courthouse bombing, said despite a desire to protest a Levasseur appearance, free speech trumps his anger.Levasseur “should be prosecuted again, and if I have to return and testify again, I would,’’ he said yesterday in a phone interview from Kampala, Uganda, where he is visiting family. “At the same time if he wants to talk about it, and I don’t know what he’s going to tell the kids, but I think he should be given the opportunity to speak.’’
“I think the public can learn from someone who’s carried out these sorts of heinous acts,’’ said Narine, 72, who is a writer in Mission Hill. “It’s important for us to hear why they did it, what motivated them. . . . It’s good for all of us to hear that, especially professionals, because it might help them to take preventive action in the future.’’
Levasseur said he was humbled by Narine’s support. “I think that’s a tremendous thing for him to do. And I appreciate it given what he’s been through,’’ said Levasseur, noting that he never intended to hurt innocent civilians.
Isn't that the kind of thing Bush used to say about his mass-murdering wars?
Levasseur said he leaves Maine to visit his grandchildren in New York, but knew this request would be closely inspected.
Levasseur said the protesters’ actions are hypocritical. “Well we have a First Amendment. It protects them; it gives them the opportunity to express themselves in a peaceful way,’’ he said. “They just don’t want me to do it. It’s the voice that they want to silence.’’
Hypocrisy never stopped them before!
