William Ayers cancellation tarnishes us all

The University of Wyoming should not have backed down after it invited controversial William Ayers to speak on campus about education reform. The Center for Social Justice should have known that Ayers, because of his radical Weatherman past and his flimsy connection with President Obama, would get conservatives and Tea Party types worked up.
Knowing this, UW administrators and Center officials needed to take steps to ensure everyone's safety after threats of violence surfaced last week, leading to the cancellation.
Initially, I didn't plan to attend Ayers' speech, particularly if there was something I liked on TV that night. But after his speech blew up into a front-page story, I would have gone out of curiosity and to support his and everyone at UW's right to free speech.
Here are some of the comments I got from friends that I e-mailed about the issue.
"Even in saner times his visit would have caused a lot of protest. If they didn't have the cojones to weather it, they shouldn't have invited him in the first place. ThugNation is starting to scare me," said a fellow telemark skier.
A Montana University System employee commented, "So much for university campuses being laboratories to test and question the merits of ideas."
A former UW employee, who added he didn't like Ayers because of his radical past, said, "If the University had to bring the National Guard down here to maintain order, that is exactly what they should have done. If every state patrol in Wyoming had to be on hand to provide security, then that is what should have been happened. Because THAT is what academic freedom is all about."
I agree. Unfortunately, when confronted with threats of violence, the best solution may be to respond with a show of brute force. To quote country songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker, "Up against the wall, redneck mothers."