 Over 40 students and faculty gathered in the “Free-Speech” zone outside the Russell Union Rotunda Monday night in a peaceful “Sit-In” protest of the canceled visit by controversial figure Bill Ayers. Event co-organizer and Georgia Southern professor Michelle Haberland explained her reasoning for holding the event. “I happen to teach the course ‘The United States in the 1960s’ and my class was very excited to hear that Bill Ayers was coming to campus and then the university decided to rescind that invitation,” Haberland said. “I will go to great lengths to defend my students’ right to learn,” she said. The protest was held on the night that Ayers was scheduled to visit Georgia Southern University as part of the Multicultural Student Center's Spring calendar.
The event was canceled last month following concerns from the university that included the security and expense that Ayers’s visit would have entailed according to Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, Teresa Thompson. Students and faculty who attended the event had the chance to stand up before fellow protestors and voice their displeasure with the university’s decision. Earlier Monday, Thompson stressed that the decision was strictly budget related and that no written contract was made. Some students and faculty at the protest felt there was more to the story. “I don’t buy that at all,” said Carlyn Pinkins, a history graduate student, “I think that it was used as an excuse to keep people from getting angry.” During the event, questions also arose involving where the group could protest according to Haberland. “I was under the impression by the George Bush experience and by walking by the rotunda that this was the ‘Free-Speech’ zone and I was informed that this was not the ‘Free-Speech’ zone,” said Haberland. “The university attorney explained to me that this was not a department-sponsored event and as such could not be held in the rotunda,” she said. Instead, the protest was held on the periphery of the structure. Since the cancelation, the university has also attracted the attention of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Thompson said that the AAUP contacted her by phone regarding the cancelation and that by the end of their discussion the AAUP representative understood their decision. “I explained all of that to Mr. [Hugh] Hudson and obviously he understood that in light of all the budget cuts that are not only going all around the country but also in Georgia, that it was a reasonable response to the situation,” Thompson said. Currently the AAUP website highlights a similar scenario at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in which Ayers was denied entry because of security concerns. According to that highlight, "faculty groups, including the AAUP, expressed concern that the rescission of the speaking invitation was inconsistent with principles of academic freedom." No reference to Georgia Southern's specific case, however, is available on the site or in its public archives. During the protest Haberland said that she hopes to raise enough money to bring Ayers next fall.
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