Students from Brandeis University and Babson and Bentley Colleges, as well as Waltham residents, protested against the controversial visit of Bill Ayers, co-founder of the Weather Underground and professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago April 30. Protesters who were not Brandeis students were banned from entering campus, but college students from neighboring institutions still protested inside the Shapiro Campus Center. However, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan told the Justice that non-Brandeis students should not have been allowed on campus. Callahan added that he did not know why Babson and Bentley students had been allowed on University premises.

Waltham residents gathered with protest signs on South Street near the Main Gate early in the morning, but Brandeis police told them that they could not enter University premises. Waltham residents tried again later in the evening to enter campus, but police said they could not enter the premises without a Brandeis student escort. Brandeis students protested against the visit outside the campus center and then outside the Carl J. Shapiro Theater.

In the late 1960s, Ayers co-founded the Weather Underground, a radical group that opposed the Vietnam War. The group was notorious for rioting and for bombing several government buildings including the Pentagon and the New York City Police Department.

The country's attention shifted toward Ayers again last year, when rumors of Barack Obama's ties to Ayers surfaced during Obama's presidential campaign. Although Ayers and Obama served on two nonprofit boards together, investigations by major news organizations concluded that Obama had little connection to Ayers.

Many protesters were outraged with the University's decision to allow a former terrorist on campus.

"I believe what [Ayers] did in 1970 was appalling," said Mark Maclay, a junior at Babson College. "I don't believe he should be here speaking and perpetuating his message of hate," he added.

"The worst part [of Ayers' visit] is, he's unrepentant about [his past]," said Allie Smith, a junior at Babson. "He doesn't care and he's proud of it-that's what kills me. He's extremely proud of what he's done."

In light of Brandeis' traditional Jewish affiliations, many protesters compared Ayers' involvement with terrorist organizations to anti-Semitic movements.

"Imagine . that you had a Nazi collaborator who was speaking at Brandeis," said Joe Manzoli of Shrewsbury, Mass., who stood protesting outside the main gate. "Do you think that people should not be offended by what occurred 60 years ago? We're talking about something that occurred 40 years ago."

"I don't understand why Brandeis would host a terrorist who is probably against everything that Israel stands for," said Evelyn Reilly, a 68-year-old Waltham resident.

"[Ayers] should be in a jail cell, not a classroom on any campus," her husband Joseph Reilly, 78, added. "He is a convicted felon."

Some Brandeis students supported Ayers' visit as a representation of free speech on campus.

"If we're going to talk about free speech, we should let anyone say whatever they want to say," Mairin O'Donnell '11 said.

"Education is seeing different perspectives from people you sometimes disagree with [and] sometimes you agree with," said Matthew Kupfer '12, who also heard Ayers speak at the event.

Other students were inspired by Ayers' reflections on his activist past.

"[Ayers] showed . appropriate consciousness of what he had done and his mistakes, but also I think [the speech] was more about the future than about the past," said Lily Adams '09.



- Brian Fromm and Miranda Neubauer contributed reporting.